From First Generation to Success: Phillip Thompson’s Graduate School Journey

In the latest episode of Victors in Grad School, we delve deep into the world of graduate education with Phillip Thompson, a seasoned community relations manager at the University of Michigan Flint. As a staunch advocate for higher education, Phillip’s journey is both inspiring and enlightening. In this blog post, we'll expand on their conversation, reflecting on key takeaways and offering deeper insights into the graduate school experience.

Choosing the Right Path: Phillip’s Decision to Pursue Graduate Education

Phillip Thompson's trajectory toward graduate school wasn't immediately clear-cut. After earning an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Michigan Flint, Phillip explored various educational avenues. He considered law school, an MBA, and even dabbled in public administration courses. However, it was his passion for words and literature that ultimately led him to pursue a Master's in Liberal Studies.

Phillip’s story underscores an essential point for prospective graduate students: the journey to selecting a graduate program is deeply personal and often non-linear. Choosing a field that genuinely interests you can be the difference between a fulfilling academic experience and one that feels like a chore.

Transitioning into Graduate School: Success Strategies

Transitioning into graduate school comes with its unique set of challenges, and Phillip's experience was no different. During his conversation with Dr. Christopher Lewis, Phillip emphasized the importance of self-reliance and adaptability. Unlike undergraduate education, where group projects and general education requirements are common, graduate education demands a higher degree of specialization and individual accountability.

Phillip found that the structure of the Liberal Studies program, which required extensive reading and writing, suited his intellectual curiosities and work habits better than the group-centric MBA coursework. This individual-focused approach allowed him to delve deeper into subjects he was passionate about, demonstrating that finding your preferred learning style is crucial for graduate school success.

The First-Generation Student Experience: Overcoming Challenges

Being a first-generation college student, Phillip faced additional hurdles in navigating higher education. Without a familial roadmap, understanding the intricacies of academic administration, financial aid, and other bureaucratic hurdles fell entirely on his shoulders. Yet, his journey through graduate school was markedly smoother. Because he could focus on subjects that fascinated him, like literature, government, and history, the coursework felt less like an obligation and more like an opportunity.

Phillip’s experience as a first-generation student highlights the importance of resourcefulness and self-advocacy. Building a support network of advisors, mentors, and like-minded peers can significantly ease this journey.

The Real-World Application: Graduate Education and Professional Success

Dr. Christopher Lewis explored how Phillip's graduate degree in Liberal Studies prepared him for his role as a community relations manager. Phillip explained that his broad academic training allowed him to approach problems from multiple perspectives, which is invaluable in community relations. Graduate education often equips students with more than just subject matter expertise; it provides critical thinking skills, exposure to diverse viewpoints, and the ability to engage with complex issues holistically.

Phillip's role at the University of Michigan Flint requires him to interact with a wide range of people and address various community needs. His graduate education has enabled him to be more adaptive, empathetic, and effective in his professional endeavors.

Tips for Prospective Graduate Students

Towards the end of the podcast, Phillip shared invaluable advice for anyone considering graduate school:

1. Understand the Time Commitment

   : Graduate programs require significantly more reading and in-depth study than undergraduate degrees. Be prepared to invest the necessary time.

2. Choose the Right Learning Mode

   : Whether it's online, in-person, or a combination of both, find what suits your learning style best.

3. Build Strong Relationships

   : Establish a good rapport with your advisors and professors. Their guidance can be instrumental in your success.

4. Develop a Schedule

   : Align your coursework with your natural rhythms of energy and enthusiasm to maximize your productivity.

Conclusion

Phillip Thompson’s journey through graduate school is a testament to the transformative power of education. His story is a compelling reminder that finding the right path, while challenging, can lead to both personal and professional fulfillment. Whether you're a prospective graduate student or currently navigating your own graduate journey, these insights and tips can serve as a valuable guide to help you achieve your academic and career goals.

For more information about graduate programs at the University of Michigan Flint, visit umflint.edu/graduateprograms.

TRANSCRIPT (unedited transcript provided through CASTMAGIC

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:01]:
Welcome to the victors in grad school, where we have conversations with students, alumni, and experts about what it takes to find success in graduate school.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:11]:
Welcome back to victors in grad school. I'm your host, doctor Christopher Lewis, Director of Graduate Programs at the University of Michigan, Flint. Really excited to have you back again this week. As always every week, you and I are on a journey together. I love being able to talk about this journey that you're on in either looking at grad school, going through grad school, getting done with grad school, wherever you are in this process. It is a process. It is a journey and it's an exciting one. And one that is so that should be an amazing opportunity, amazing experience for you.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:46]:
And part of the reason that this podcast exists is to help you along that journey, to help you find success from the very beginning. So no matter where you are in this continuum, where you are in this journey, this show is here to help you, to give you some tools, some thoughts, some perspectives on what others have done to be able to be successful in that graduate school journey. That's why every week I bring you different people, different people with different experiences that can provide you with the journey that they went on and some of the tidbits, some of the things that they learned along the way that can help you to build some tools for your own toolbox. This week, we got another great guest with us. Philip Thompson is with us today, and Philip is a community relations manager at the University of Michigan Flint. And Philip did his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan Flint and then did a graduate degree degree with the University of Michigan Flint as well. So we're gonna be talking about his journey in going through that process for himself and get to know him a little bit better. Philip, thanks so much for being here today.

Phillip Thompson [00:01:49]:
Thank you for the invitation. I appreciate it. I'm honored that you would ask me to be on today.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:53]:
Well, it's my pleasure having you here. And I wanna go back in time because I know that every per every people, every person has a different reason for going to graduate school. And as I said, you did your undergraduate work in economics at the University of Michigan Flint. You could have gone on and got a graduate degree in economics, you could have gotten an MBA, you could have done a lot of different things. But at some point during that journey, whether it was right in undergrad or after a few years of working, you made a decision to go back to graduate school. Talk to me about that, and what made you decide that you wanted to go to graduate school?

Phillip Thompson [00:02:29]:
Yeah. So after my undergrad, it was a couple of years of working, and, of course, interesting story of mine is that of my mother's 3 children, I'm the only one that graduated from college. And so I kinda made her a promise that then if I were to complete my undergrad degree, I would eventually go back and get my master's. And, of course, she wanted me to go on and get my doctorate as well, but and I kinda semi promised that. But with that being said, I I I did promise to get the the master's degree. And so it was in part the fulfillment of a promise that I made to my mom to do it. And then, of course, I wanted it for myself as well. And that was kind of the motivating factors for me to go back and get my graduate degree.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:03:14]:
Now I've already said the fact that you got your bachelor's in economics. So there were other options that from what you chose and I'll get to that in one second. But you made the decision that you wanted to study liberal studies and you did that at the University of Michigan Flint. You could have done a master's in economics, you could have done an MBA, you could have done a lot of different things. Talk to me about that thought process of choosing a master in liberal studies degree versus something else. And what made you decide to study that area and especially study it at the University of Michigan Flint?

Phillip Thompson [00:03:52]:
Of course, when I got with my undergraduate degree, economics, a lot of my advisor was saying, hey, go to law school. This is the natural progression. There's a lot of people who when they get their their econ degree, they go straight to law school. That's probably the number one feeder program in the law schools is the econ program. And so they're saying, go get your law degree. You've got all the skills you need to do it. And I thought about it. I thought very seriously about it because there was a friend of mine who was about 10 years older than me, and he was getting his going through law school and just taking one class at a time.

Phillip Thompson [00:04:24]:
And he was very successful at what he was doing. He'd already had 2 master's degrees, and he was like, yeah, go to law school, you can do it. I had a cousin who's a couple years older than me, who was also going through law school. So I thought about that track, thought about the MBA as well. And I took about 9 credit hours in the MBA program and paused on that. I took some credit hours of masters in public administration, pause on that too. And then I started looking very seriously at the Liberal Studies program, and found it extremely fascinating, in part, because I love words. I'm a wordsmith.

Phillip Thompson [00:04:57]:
I just love words. And so the literature itself became really the driving force for me to do the Liberal Studies program because I love to read and I love words. I was like, this is more germane for me. It felt the most natural and organic for me to go through the liberal studies program, and and I couldn't have been more happy. I mean, I got some trans professors that I still keep up with and really, really found it really, really exciting and fulfilling on every account.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:05:25]:
Now you just mentioned that you took some classes in the MBA. You took some classes in the masters of public administration, and you landed in liberal studies. Graduate coursework in the MBA is different than the MPA is different than the liberal studies. You're taught in different ways. The expectations are a little bit different, and in each of those, there are transitions that you have to go through, transitions in learning, transitions in expectations, be and and other aspects as well. So talk to me about transitions, and what did you have to do as you were transitioning into any of those individual classes, into the eventual masters in liberal studies to be able to, one, set yourself up for success? And what did you have to do to maintain that success throughout your graduate school experience?

Phillip Thompson [00:06:13]:
So the thing I discovered very quickly in the MBA program is that it's a lot of group work. And some people love group work, some people not so much. I'm in that latter group. I love groups, but I don't necessarily like group work. I tend to land on the merits of individual accomplishment. I'm better if I know that it's all on me. If I don't get it done, it's it's because I didn't get it done. In a group setting though, you have to rely on other people.

Phillip Thompson [00:06:40]:
And there's nothing wrong with that. It just seemed that, again, it was easier for me to rely on myself. And that's what I liked about the Liberal Studies program. It was easy to transition to that because all of the reading was on me, all of the writing was on me versus in the MBA program. If you're doing an accounting class or you're doing a business project and you're trying to figure out how you can maximize profits, it's 2 or 3 other people that you have to cooperate with. And sometimes that's good and sometimes not so much. But the liberal studies program, again, because of the words and because of this individual accountability that I placed upon myself. It just seemed to be so much more easier for me to excel at that program.

Phillip Thompson [00:07:24]:
The the master's of public administration was similar to liberal studies, but the material, I just didn't find it as fascinating as I did. The literature that I was reading in in liberal studies, very, very good stuff, but liberal studies just seemed to just open my mind up in all of these fascinating ways, you know, to talk about the history of America, the history of religion, the history of government, all of the things that just seem to just converge and they all just fascinated me. And so it was easy for me to, again, assimilate into that material, into that class work because I just found it so engaging.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:08:02]:
Now you also mentioned that you were a 1st generation college student as an undergraduate student, a 1st generation college student as a graduate student as well. And with that comes its own challenges in understanding and being able to have the support to be able to get through those different experiences. As a 1st generation college student, as a graduate student, what were some of the challenges that you ran up against that you felt like you had to overcome?

Phillip Thompson [00:08:31]:
Well, I'm gonna tell you, I found graduate school to be much easier than undergraduate school. And I've talked to a lot of people who say the same thing, undergraduate, you've gotta take a lot of courses that you don't necessarily wanna take, but it's required of you. And then of course, being a first generation college student, I didn't know how to navigate through the system well, because I didn't have a precedence. Nobody could say, hey, you know, this is what you do. This is how you talk to your counselors. This is how you handle all of these things, financial aid. It was all on me to kinda figure it out. And, honestly, there were some semesters where I struggled in undergraduate.

Phillip Thompson [00:09:07]:
But in graduate school, because I'm taking only the classes I want to take, only the classes that really interest me, and the classes, of course. There's some core curriculum, of course, but after the core curriculum, I mean, you get to choose your own path in graduate school, and that's what I found to be much easier than undergraduate. So I think the hardest thing about graduate school is the thesis. I struggled, and, you know, because it's that whole overanalyzing perfectionism mindset that you you bring to that experience. And, of course, writer's block, all of it, you name it. But overall, the class work was much more easier than undergrad, because you get to choose what path you want to take.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:09:54]:
You definitely do get to do that. And that's one of the things that I always tell students is that the nice thing about grad school is that you're not going to have all of those other gen ed requirements that you're going to be having to be forced to take as an undergraduate student that you can focus in on the things that you're most passionate about and and most interested in, and you can then jump in from there. Now seeing that you did a graduate degree in the master's in liberal studies, And you are, as I said, at the very beginning, a community, a community relations manager in the Flint area, working for the University of Michigan Flint, as you look back at the graduate degree, what you learned in that process. How do you feel that the graduate degree prepared you for what you're doing on a daily basis?

Phillip Thompson [00:10:44]:
There's no question. In a graduate program, while you're focusing on your passions, as you said so eloquently, you're also, you know, dealing with this whole broad spectrum of information that you have to be open to new ideas, new experiences, new people. And so I think the biggest thing that the the graduate program did is expose me to some areas in life and some thought processes that I had never given consideration to. And I think that is the biggest thing about it. You come you you leave away from grad school realizing that we come to the school or graduate school with some narrow parameters, but we leave out, you know, having broadened our scope of knowledge and our experiences. So I think the biggest thing is, again, you leave away with an appreciation for multiple perspectives on any thought and on any idea. Right? Because you have to develop an appreciation for those who agree and for those who disagree.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:11:49]:
Definitely. And I love that because I think that for one of the things that any graduate degree should be able to allow for you to do is to broaden your own perspective, to understand not only yourself better, but to understand others better. And it can open you up to being able to then relate to others better and the work that you're doing. So, so I appreciate you sharing that. Now, as you think about your own graduate experience, the journey that you went on, what you learned along the way, and you think about students that are going through their own journey, that are thinking about going to graduate school, whether it be for a master's in liberal studies or something completely different. What are some tips that you might offer to those students considering graduate education that would help them find success sooner? Yeah.

Phillip Thompson [00:12:36]:
I think the one thing that any person considering graduate school, should deeply consider is the time commitment. There's going to be far more reading in graduate school than there was in undergraduate school. It's just no other way around it because you're a subject matter expert, so to speak, when you leave that program. So in order to become that, there is a serious amount of reading that's required. So I think it's just the the time commitment that you have to give to the program. And, of course, there's a minimum threshold in graduate school. Undergrad, you can get a c and pass the class. That's not the case in graduate school.

Phillip Thompson [00:13:14]:
It's a b or better. Right? There's there's no other way around. It's like you can't really half step in graduate school. So I think three things that I would say for those who are considering going back to graduate school is consider the time commitment that you have to give to reading. Number 2 is create a schedule that is most organic for you, your natural flows of energy and enthusiasm. So if you're taking a multimodal approach, if you got some online, if you got some in person, or if you've gone all in person, consider whether or not that works for you. Because some people do well in person, but don't do well online. So I would say, again, consider the time commitment, con consider the mode of your learning, which works best, which is most organic for you.

Phillip Thompson [00:14:06]:
And then number 3, I would say develop a very close relationship with the advisor for the graduate program or the professors in the program, and let them know what your desire is. And that will be the very basic approach that any graduate student should take in terms of success. I think if you do those three things and you stay on top of it, there's no reason why you shouldn't be successful.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:14:29]:
Well, Philip, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for sharing your journey today, for sharing your thoughts on success and how you got there, and what others can do to do the same, and I wish you all the best.

Phillip Thompson [00:14:41]:
Thank you so much.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:14:42]:
The University of Michigan Flint has a full array of masters and doctorate programs if you are interested in continuing your education. Whether you're looking for in person or online learning options, the University of Michigan Flint has programs that will meet your needs. For more information on any of our graduate programs, visit umflint.edu/graduateprograms to find out more. Thanks again for spending time with me as you prepare to be a victor in grad school. I look forward to speaking with you again soon as we embark together on your graduate school journey. If you have any questions or want to reach out, email me at [email protected].