So...you want to be a Doctor?

The desire to be Dr Kym Davis, had burned in me for a long time. The deciding moment arrived when quite by chance when I realised that I may be able to undertake a Higher Degree Research Degree (HDR) with tuition fees paid under the Australian Commonwealth Government's Research Training Program (RTP) Fee Offset scheme. In real person lingo - that meant FREE!!!! RTP is available for ALL Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents, and New Zealand citizens.

Not going to lie friends, that was my defining moment. I gave no thought to my age or how long it would take, or how hard it might be (I can assure you that was for others). I was all in and positively excited with the prospect. CRAZY I know. And although there were certainly some tough times (that's a different blog) I loved it. And I loved the crazy, zany, wonderful people I met along the way. I was loved and supported by the strongest circle of women you could hope for - all cheering me on.

So, if you like me, have a desire to step into the HDR space, jump on google and check out your options with universities.

I wrote my Acknowledgement when I began my HDR journey. When times were tough, or I doubted myself, I would re-read to remind myself of why I began. I have included below for you to read.

Acknowledgement

1 January 2018 – This one is for me

I am writing my acknowledgement as I begin – as if in some way these words will sustain me on the journey that follows. I completed my project proposal yesterday and sent it to my Supervisor for sign-off. I am nervous, hopeful, and excited.

This is my journey – it has taken a long time to get here (depending on your view of time), at 50 (the plus is silent) a lifetime, in fact. But I am here, sitting in my office, surrounded by a few items gifted by the women in my family of generations past. They serve as a reminder of the immense benefits and opportunity that education brings to your life and that each generation continues further than the last. A hope, I think, all parents share, and certainly the hope I hold for my own daughters. As a first in family to attend university I know that education is not a resource to be trivialised or wasted. I am grateful for the support, love and belief of those who supported my dream. You know who you are. I am also incredibly grateful to my research supervisors and in particular, my principal supervisor Dr Kim Southey, thank you for sharing my dream to be Dr Kym Davis.

I am also grateful for regional universities who exist to ensure and provide alternative pathways to higher education. Without you, I would not be here.

This research has been supported by the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

The very last sentence of my dissertation concluded with this:

In Chapter One, I wrote that ‘the longest journey starts with a single step’, this final step, which seemed so far in the distance has finally come and is equally as special as the first.

And then I am pretty sure I sat down and cried.

Friends - stay strategic and focused…and live your dreams. Xoxo Kym