What Made Me Decide to Go to Graduate School and How I Picked my School? "Allowing one's personal aspiration to fall victim to life's hardships may be a desirable solution, but also a costly sacrifice" (Anonymous). It takes perseverance, drive and passion to rise above the difficulties in life. But I believe that a long-term goal always serves a light at the end of a seemly-never-ending tunnel. During the time when I applied for my doctoral program, my goal was simple and certain: intellectual enrichment and applying that knowledge to better help those in need of a helping hand. My life experiences have led me to appreciate the value of this goal. Perhaps, it was my father who inspired my thirst for knowledge. Born in a farmer's family with his father's early death, my father was forced to give up a fantastic education opportunity at the foremost university in Taiwan, and plunged into the job market right after his high school. As the first son in the family, he was obligated to earn the tuition and living expenses for his younger brother and sister. In a short while after that, he also had to raise our family, four girls and a boy. Being the youngest one among his four daughters, I would not be surprised if he had given me off for adoption since the financial burden of the family was extremely heavy on him, and girls were not perceived as precious during that traditional Chinese era. Nevertheless, I saw how hard my father worked his way up, from a poor little farmer to the president of a significant machinery company in Taiwan. Ultimately, he kept me. Not only that, my father was able to provide all of his five children good education opportunity, which he valued so much yet was disallowed to have. Knowledge to me is like a bottomless gold mine, and experience generates the beautiful reflection of it. Through the years of my BS and MA study, I grew tremendously in the knowledge about special education, and gained invaluable professional experiences as well. The graduate assistantship during my MA years, especially granted me opportunities to investigate deeper in the fields of education researches, administration, professional conferences, and specialized technology. I was also recommended by several professors in my program to further dedicate myself in doctorate study. That is, besides being actively involved with the professionals in my prior program, getting opinions from people who worked closely with me also significantly reassured of my pursuit of the doctorate. The school I picked was consented among the professors as one of the outstanding special education programs in this country. Based on the professional advice and my personal search, i.e. online, library, books, I would constantly check the information against my goal of intellectual enrichment as well as its potential of offering me the opportunity of experiential influence to the special need. For example, the learning in my MA program touched upon a small portion of the theoretical and practical problems (research) in the curriculum design that are integrated with adaptive technology for inclusive education. I have wanted to continue exploring the wide range of research problems about the curriculum design, especially those incorporated with adaptive technology for inclusion. Among the five schools I applied to, University of Washington (UW) stood out among the top two of having outstanding professors and publications in the research of curricula and inclusive education. In particular, an Experimental Education Unit (EEU) is established by its Special Education program to provide inclusive educational services for kids in the community; DO-IT program is sponsored by the university to offer adaptive technology resource and assistance for youngsters. What these pieces of information suggest is that UW is most likely to offer the resources that are not only valid to my research interests and but enabling the implementation of my research physically objective. So, did I choose UW over others? This question can be effortlessly answered by a quick search of the curious readers. In another journal (if time permits), I wish to share how the doctoral/graduate program has and has not helped reaching my goal. Do all the difficulties arose in the program deserve my persevering through? Have I found my goal too idealistic to be achieved? Albeit all the unexpected differences, one thing that has not depreciated is the value of the pursuit of scholarship inspired by the hardship that my Father went through during his life. Being a grad student is a treasure opportunity in life. Have you discovered that treasure yet?
