I’m currently studying at Harvard University as a graduate student in the Masters in Design Engineering(MDE) program.
I’m in my early 30s. By the time I finish my graduate school, I’ll be in my mid-30s. Unless you’re going to a sloan MBA program, there aren’t that many people who are going to graduate school around me.
Against all odds, why did I decide to go to graduate school?
Intentionally Change My Surrounding Environment
It’s been almost 10 years since I graduated from my undergraduate institution and started my career. I did transfer once within the company, but basically I’ve been working in the same company.
The more time I spent at my firm, I felt I was being affected by firm, and my way of thinking was dominated by the rationale of the firm.
I wouldn’t say working at a one company for a long time is a bad thing necessarily, but I also thought that I was missing out on something.
Now that I have a built a career, I wanted to obtain a new vantage point by diverging from my career path, and intentionally disrupting it.
From a career perspective, I thought that I would be stronger individual by posing a change to myself.
Discover New Methods
I work at an advertising firm, and many of my colleagues talk about “problem solving.” We are always talking about how to solve our client A’s problem, our client B’s problem…and so on.
There are numerous professionals in our firm to provide all kinds of solution. The creatives, the media people, the strategy people, tech people, PR people, and the list can go on forever.
In the world of advertising, the trend is going up and down and many players are out there trying to develop their own ways of problem solving, day and night.
As someone from that environment, I also wanted to find my own thing, and develop an original approach that can enhance my career.
Make Something
This is a rather primitive desire, but I also wanted this feeling that I’m actually “making something.”
As a result of being in a very large firm, my work has become fairly fragmented, and I wasn’t feeling I’m making something during my job. At the end of the day, I was making many decks for presentation, but not physically making something.
Although I do write some code for mockups once in a while, I thought that it would be beneficial to immerse myself in a place where I get to make things as much as I want.
Do What You Want to Do
Last but not least, I think this is the most important. As an individual, I think I’m happy when I’m doing something I want to do.
When you’re trying something new, there will always be some people trying to stop you. But why does that matter?
If, at this very moment, I was freed from all of the responsibilities and entanglements, and was in a position to pursue whatever I wanted to do, what would I do? What mission would I impose on myself, and what kind of work will I achieve?
Life is short. Time flies.
Despite the outcomes, I thought that I should do what I want to do.
For the past few years, I’ve been indecisive about it, but during my vacation in Guam on January 2017, when I was gazing out to the ocean, the idea struck my mind, and so I decided.
“I should go to grad school.”
That was when my year long preparation started.
