In the past, I’ve written about the first and second year doctoral journey within Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. The increasing stress level in those posts is likely evident to the reader, but I never wrote a year-three summary, as many readers have pointed out. There is no nefarious reason for this; it only comes down to time. Writing these days is a daily regiment punctuated with a fervor of creative flourish in the race to finish my dissertation for my defense. Write. Edit. Repeat.

But alas, the third year in the program isn’t just the writing. There are other hurdles to clear, which are mentally exhausting for the wrong reasons. I will preface this by saying that the program has recently changed, so you’d unlikely experience some of what follows, but the third year can be challenging.

Time is Not Your Friend

As I’ve noted before, Case’s program requires a significant amount of time to complete regardless of whether you choose the Doctor of Business Administration (3 years, if on time) or the PhD in Sustainable Systems (4 years, if on time). It is billed as a full-time program and fully lives up to that standard; you either accept that and put in the time, or you don’t make the cut.

The issue is that at the end of the second year, you have to pass the quantitative capstone. This is exhausting and time-consuming. But it’s not just that; you must keep progressing on your second research study while completing that capstone and preparing for a mid-summer residency. Subsequently, when you return to the university for two days of seminars in July, your head is swimming in the worst way possible. Everything is blurry, and you don’t quite know which way to go.

So you start Year 3 in a daze. In your head, you may fall into the common trap of “it’s July, I have time to finish things”. But you don’t. You don’t have time. The clock is ticking, and the deadlines start stacking up against you quickly. That second research study? You need data by August. The integrative paper or the 3rd study? You need a methodological design for that by October. Then, there is the continued seminar work, which becomes a more significant issue.

Not Everyone is Rooting for You

CWRU, for me, has a lot of people who are excited about learning and engagement. Yes, it’s hard work, but there’s a joyfulness to it. Amid Year 3, however, I found something unexpected. I (actually, a whole class of 13 people) was at odds with a particular class and professor, academically famous as he may be, that fundamentally destroyed any resemblance of learning. This soured me to an extreme I had not experienced in quite some time. From his overall lack of teaching to his sexist comments to making a guest lecturer from another university cry, you can imagine he and I did not get along (it’s on a university mailing list for posterity’s sake if you want to see that drag-out fight). When I and others were done with the class (a requirement), the exhaustion felt was infuriating: 350 pages of repetitive writing and work, wasted time, and wasted opportunities to wax a professor’s inflated sense of self.

There’s always one, I suppose. And it’s always the guy with no real world experience in the slightest. Go figure.

As far as I understand, I do not believe the class will exist after this December. But be assured, said person (who also told me that my first study was “wrong” and would never be accepted anywhere…he was very wrong on that front) still lurks about.

Don’t Give Up

Ignoring exhaustion and that bitterness is critical because you can’t let one lousy seminar drag you down. In the immortal words of the great philosopher, Taylor Swift, shake it off. You have to redouble your efforts and remember why you’re here. I had to remind myself a lot during this period. It is, however, worth it.

The other workshops are actionable in very tangible ways. They have aligned goals to move your research beyond just the conducting and writing parts. You begin talking about research dissemination and your plans for the future beyond your degree. You start having peer conversations around collaboration. This support becomes the last sort of pillar to prop you up as you complete edit after edit; you see what emerges, and the words start to leap off the page.

Not everyone is in your corner, but a lot of people are.

By the time my third year finished, I had found myself with a PhD committee, two studies complete, two papers being sent out, and I discovered that hop in my step again.

Year 3 wasn’t easy. I’m still tired. Most of my co-hort is still tired. But proudly we watched one of us walk with their doctorate (yeeeeee Dr. Donna!) and the rest of us look to finish in Spring 2025 as we set our defense dates.

Don’t lose the forrest for the trees.