Get the book – “25 tips for the Budding Ph.D.”
By Bakari Akil II, Ph.D.
When I first thought about applying to the Ph.D. program at Florida State I was working as a protective investigator for the Department of Children and Families for Florida. I had a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and searched for months for work and this is where I ended up. I started out at a salary of $29,500. Needless to say I was pissed. I could have gotten the same position and salary without a Master’s degree.
My job was to go to homes whenever there was an accusation of mental, physical or sexual abuse to a child and investigate. We weren’t allowed to carry any weapons including mace, pepper spray or a taser. So it was just you, your attitude and whatever diety or supernatural device (like a rabbit’s foot) you looked to that would serve as your protection. After months of going to trailer parks in the middle of the woods, roads with no gravel and homes with 8×10 rebel flags in the middle of the living room, I had had enough. My brain had left the job before I did physically. My worst case was when a man had literally cracked his baby’s head and attacked the mother with a bat.
So let’s see. At this point I was underpaid, underemployed, overworked and my job put me in constant danger. I should have gotten out sooner. On my first ride with another investigator (while training) I locked the door to his car when we got out so we could approach the house. He told me, don’t ever lock your door when you go to someone’s house. I asked why? He responded with, “You’ll learn!”
Luckily, I didn’t.
I had an interest in writing and journalism, so while I was in classroom training to become a Protective Investigator (an unarmed social worker) I also applied to the Communication Doctoral program at FSU. One of the requirements the department asked for was a Master’s thesis or capstone project. I had neither. I completed a summer internship with the Urban League as part of my degree requirements. When I explained my predicament to the program administrator on campus she informed me that I could send in a writing sample as well.
Fortunately, I had been operating a news website for the past year (2001-2002). This was before the popularity of the blogs and you either had to pay someone to design a website for you or you had to know what you were doing. At the time I had 15 to 20 regular journalists, academics, activists, etc., who were submitting regularly. I also wrote as well. So I put together a packet highlighting my staff, our numbers, our mission, who our other writers were, feedback from readers and some examples of my writing.
It did the trick. Coupled with my GRE scores, grades from my Master’s program and my actual mass communication experience I was allowed to enter the program. This demonstrated that there was a human component to the admission process and that creativity was acceptable as long as it pertained to the mission of the department (which in my case was communication).
Always see if there is another way to get something done and don’t be afraid to ask.
