Dr. Wendy Carter has a
passion for helping people succeed. Raised in a home challenged
by poverty, alcoholism, and abuse, along with four siblings, the
statistics said that Dr. Carter would not graduate high school
or attend college. Ignoring those statistics, she attended Stanford
University after graduating from the academically rigorous Boston
Latin Academy. That was her escape and her promise of a brighter
future. She earned both a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford in six years – even
after becoming a single parent.
To say Dr. Carter understands the obstacles to success
is an understatement. She adopted author Julia Cameron’ s ( The Artist’s Way) personal
philosophy "Leap and the net will appear," to encourage herself
throughout her educational career. Earning five degrees from Stanford,
Carnegie Mellon, and University of Wisconsin-Madison, she persevered
despite the costs and seemingly insurmountable challenges. Dr.
Carter was excited when she was accepted to Carnegie Mellon’s School
of Urban and Public Affairs for their master’s program in Management
and Public Policy. But as a single parent without financial aid
the news was bittersweet. Again, she leapt, and the net appeared
with a Patricia Harris Fellowship.
Next, Dr. Carter found funding to attend the nationally-recognized
Ph.D. program in sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Securing a six-year
research assistantship, Dr. Carter honed the skills she now markets
to become the first in her cohort to finish her course-work in
the doctoral program. Even with funding, she found out the hard
way that other concerns are just as relevant. Her first attempt
to pass her qualifying exams failed. Her second didn’t — despite
suffering from depression and managing the rigors of single parenthood.
Research and her own educational trials showed Dr.
Carter that 50 of all students drop out of graduate school and
17% drop out during the thesis and the dissertation phase. In response
to this startling statistic, she developed an interactive
tutorial program designed to alleviate the high attrition rate
among graduate students. She also developed a powerful presentation
that not only motivates and encourages students, but also gives
them workable solutions to their own educational crises.
Today, Dr. Carter successfully manages many roles – parent, educator, business
owner and motivational speaker. Her daughter graduated cum laude from Howard
University . Dr. Carter continues to be an inspiration and invaluable resource
to students and educators throughout the country.
"Leap and the net will appear"
I"t doesn't have to be perfect it just has to be done!"
"A good dissertation is a done dissertation."
"A good thesis is a done thesis."
If you are thinking about getting started in graduate school you need to have a plan on how to get out before you get started. How long do you want to stay? Who are you going to work with on the faculty? Do you need to write a thesis to get out? What about qualifying exams? How many credits do I need? What is the minimum GPA required to graduate? How structured is the program? What about funding? What is the average length of time students take to complete the degree?