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From Scholarship to Mentorship: My Path to Another Degree

Updated: Oct 19

As I was writing the "about" page for Another Degree - trying to distill years of experience, reflection, and hope into a few tidy paragraphs - I found myself getting carried away. Not because I lacked focus, but because the story behind this business is deeply personal. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from mentoring students, it’s that personal stories matter. They help demystify and humanize the often-elusive world of academia and remind us that no one arrives fully formed. And they show that the path to graduate school - and beyond - is rarely linear.


Greek columns, including three complete but others incomplete, on the shores of a lake.
One of my favorite places to study at the University at Buffalo - Baird Point

When I started college at my hometown state university in Buffalo, NY, I didn’t even know graduate school existed. I knew medical doctors needed more training, but that was about it. I remember whispering to a friend during lunch, “There are so many older students here.” (In reality, they were probably only 23 to 25 years old.) She laughed and said, “They’re graduate students.” That moment sparked a curiosity I didn’t yet know how to pursue.


I continued with my bachelor's degree in business, but academic curiosity kept tugging at me. Fulfilling my social science prerequisites led to a second major in sociology. With an interest in international business, I enrolled in a semester abroad in Singapore. Immersing myself in Singapore’s vibrant culture was transformative - but just as eye-opening was the community of exchange students around me. Many were already engaged in research or community work, and nearly all were preparing for graduate study in one form or another - MBAs, JDs, PhDs. In their ambitious pursuits I was inspired to see pathways for myself to possibilities I hadn't considered.


By graduation, I was at a crossroads. The plan to get a practical degree and a stable job no longer felt complete. I chose to work abroad for a few years - what I now recognize as my gap years - exploring the world and my place in it. Eventually, I applied to a PhD program in sociology and was accepted to my top-choice school - the University of Washington in Seattle. But I’ll be honest: I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I made mistakes. I felt lost. And I realized that many students enter graduate school without the guidance they need to thrive.


They say “research is me-search,” and my graduate work in the sociology of knowledge production was no exception. I was trying to make sense of the academic world I’d entered - its history, its norms, its biases, its silences, its future possibilities. I adapted and eventually found myself on the academic job market with awards, publications, and faculty encouragement. But as that career came within reach, I realized it wasn’t what I wanted.


Instead, I turned toward the “Alt-Ac” path - alternative academic careers. For me that meant a focus on student support and program development. At UCLA, I spent nearly a decade as an academic administrator and faculty member, designing programs, leading classes, and advising students through their scholarly journeys. One of my proudest achievements was a program that demystified and humanized academic spaces, in part by sharing real stories from real scholars. Students saw that the path to postgraduate studies and specialization isn’t linear - it’s a mosaic of experiences, skills, and evolving goals. There are no missteps, only intersections that shape our specialized knowledge and perception.


Through ongoing research and practice, I’ve seen how independent scholarship fosters not only academic and career readiness, but also personal growth and resilience. When paired with mentorship, these pursuits can profoundly shape a student’s confidence, direction, and overall life satisfaction. These outcomes were confirmed in social scientific studies I conducted with a brilliant team of collaborators (Arnold et al., 2023; Kistner et al., 2021; Toven-Lindsey et al., 2024) - and just as powerfully, they emerged in the day-to-day: students finding their voice, re-framing their goals, and stepping into spaces they once found intimidating.


That’s why I started Another Degree.


Alongside a collective of talented mentors and instructors, I’m thrilled to offer guidance to a wide population of aspiring scholars and leaders. Our mission is to help students navigate the transition from curiosity to confidence, from student to scholar, from uncertainty to purpose. We believe that graduate education should be accessible, fulfilling, and shaped by values - not just credentials.


If you’re considering graduate or professional school, or simply wondering what could be next, I hope you’ll explore what Another Degree has to offer. And I hope my story reminds you that there’s no one right way to pursue knowledge - only your way, supported by people who believe in your potential.




References

Arnold, W., Kistner, K., Sparck, E.M., & Levis-Fitzgerald, M. (2023). Academic Growth and Professional Development through


Kistner, K., Sparck, E.M., Liu, A., Whang Sayson, H., Levis-Fitzgerald, M., & Arnold, W. (2021). Academic and Professional

Preparedness: Outcomes of Undergraduate Research in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research, 4(4), 3–9.


Toven-Lindsey, B., Sparck, E.M., Kistner, K., Ardam, J., Levis-Fitzgerald, M., & Arnold, W. (2024). Undergraduate Research in

 
 
 
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