An Even Higher Education
Recently I was thinking about whether or not I wanted to pursue higher education, well, an even HIGHER education that is. I never really thought I would be interested in pursuing a doctorate but thinking about it more and more it doesn’t seem like a terrible idea. I really have a few things I am looking at but the deadline to apply to UC Berkeley is December this year so I have a few months to think about it and get it together. Berkeley is likely the only place I would want to apply due to its proximity for where I live. The worst that can happen is my application is rejected. They only accept about 3-7 students out of hundreds of applicants. I am a bit worried about whether or not I am “good enough” to get in to such a prestigious school. I know everyone says its hard to be successful in tech or security without a CS degree and while I don’t have one yet, I’m also not interested in pursuing one either. There is an Information Systems PhD in the iSchool or information school that seems like it is more appealing to me and would fit the types of things I want to study and learn about.
Since I have a few months before the application is due for the 2025 school year, I will have to narrow down a potential topic for my dissertation. I understand that choosing a topic is difficult and narrowing down a problem statement and research question is a long process too. I changed my research question several times while in graduate school writing my thesis for my masters. I have a topic in mind already that I am very passionate about and am really interested in researching it more for how it ties into personal security for both my professional and personal life. I have heard that being passionate is imperative for success while pursuing a PhD and I can’t wrap my head around the idea of why anyone would even bother applying to a program without passion for what they want to do. But thankfully I don’t need to be concerned with why other people do things and as long as I am passionate about what I am doing, hopefully that will help me be successful.