The Doctorate Journey: Tips to Navigate Enrollment to Graduation

Dr. Erica Garcia Thomas
Dec 1, 2025
8 min read

Updated: Jan 4

Personal Insight from one scholar of a Doctor of Business Administration degree program.

Dr. Erica Garcia Thomas, DBA, MAOL

Starting an academic degree program, especially to earn a terminal degree like a doctorate, can be simultaneously overwhelming and exciting.

For doctoral students or anyone pursuing advanced study, staying organized, focused, and consistent in daily time management is easier said than done; that is why scholars must share their personal experiences navigating the doctoral journey and encourage others who have chosen this path. So here we are!

My journey into the Doctor of Business Administration & Management program at Indiana Wesleyan University in 2019 was an adjustment. The first year was a chaotic whirlwind, marked by the onset of a global pandemic. In that first year, I learned the value of staying organized and managing myself in ways I had never done before.

Practical advice based on my doctoral experience:

Choose the right degree format for you and ask questions before enrolling (because of this my program was an exact fit with what I wanted to do)
Get and stay organized each day and communicate about household expectations as many chores go undone when you have a paper due.
Manage your time well with boundaries this takes self-management to be able to say a gracious no so you can say a full yes to your schoolwork.
Find the right tech tools for you early in the program
Clear and ongoing communication and teamwork make everything better
Perspective is everything when navigating full-time work, family responsibilities, and a terminal degree program
Stay focused on graduation by reminding yourself of the end goal and why you took on this program to begin with

Juggling numerous commitments, my first year I was drowning in assignments, new information, group work, and higher education acronyms. I struggled to balance my schoolwork and my family time. This hard lesson taught me the crucial role of personalized time-management practices in a graduate or doctoral program, including self-care, mindfulness, consistency, and communication. A lot easier said than done!

1. Choose The Right Degree Format and Communication Pattern

My master's in organizational leadership program was hybrid, with monthly in-person meetings, which worked well for me as a young, local, single professional. My doctoral program was entirely virtual, except for an annual two-day in-person residency, which worked well for me as a working professional with a family in another state.

With the remote format, it was clear that my hope of connecting with others depended on my intentionality. I took control of my networking and carved out a little time each week for texts, emails, and checking in with friends in the program. Adjusting to competing demands was challenging in the first year, but by the second year, I had a system and a comfort level with my peers that made all the difference.

In the remote format, as soon as I had a question, I contacted my professors for clarity, which really helped. I was also in the very first cohort of the DBA program the university had ever offered, which made the two-way feedback with our professors and research chairs even more vital. I was impressed by how Indiana Wesleyan University's National and Global navigated our feedback and shaped the program accordingly.

In a doctorate-level program, your professors become your peers at graduation, so there's more of a candid approach to the research process when compared to master's level studies. I gleaned so much wisdom from seasoned scholars, practitioners, and peers, even in a single conversation. So, opening lines of communication was even more beneficial for me. Rule of the journey: Ask when you are curious, unclear, or confused.

2. Get and Stay Organized While Aligning on Expectations

In my second year of remote studies, I devoted significant time and effort to organizing my research each day, so it was easy to find when needed. I also allowed space in my calendar each evening to connect with my peers and professors and focus on my work once my kids were in bed. Looking back I'm so glad I did that.

I cannot emphasize enough how crucial it is to communicate effectively with educators, Research Chairs, and loved ones, and to be honest and humble when I need assistance or cannot meet a deadline.

I went all in on organization once I discovered strategies that worked for my studies, including digital note-taking, project management tools, and action item assignments. I created a structured schedule and committed to spending at least 20 hours a week on my education and growth, knowing this was only a brief season of my life (3 years).

Despite working full-time in marketing during the day and spending time with my family at dinnertime, I still set aside 8 p.m. to midnight each day to focus solely on my studies. My husband was vital to this process as a source of support, and he did much of the housework during this time. I also live in a multigenerational household, and that has been incredibly helpful. I was so blessed to have so much help. Had I not had that support, I would have waited until my kids were out of high school to begin the program.

3. Manage Your Time Well: Learn to Say No

Weekends were entirely devoted to schoolwork, household chores, and meal planning (and napping if I could). As I said earlier, I was fortunate to have a lot of help from my family during this season, further complicated by the 2020 pandemic and a significant shift in how the world does business. It was a lot, but I'm so grateful for the experience, and I could write papers all day Saturday and into Sunday morning (yes, I'm a night owl).

I believe the key to my success in earning my doctorate was staying organized and maintaining focus during the evening hours I devoted to study. By clearly saying no to other opportunities, I created the space to commit to my doctorate fully.

Through my doctorate, I learned the art of showing up for my schoolwork even when exhausted, distracted, and uninspired. I cultivated a newfound love for my husband as he took on much more household management, parenting, and meal prep to free me up to focus on my academic goals.

As I reflect now, I see beauty in the sacrifice and support I received from extended family, the humility I grew into as I accepted that I could not do it all, and the late-night bonding and shared experiences with my doctoral team members that I could never recreate.

It was incredible and so challenging, all at once.

4. Find The Right Tech Tools

Technology also helped me stay organized. I used Microsoft through my university and Trello for project management, Google for my personal calendar, and Zotero and Dropbox for managing my research.

For projects, I used Canva for design, Zoom for meetings, and Google Scholar for academic searches and open-source articles. I also use Otter.ai for transcribing my essential meetings, as it helps with my sensory processing disorder disability.

With productivity tools, you must use ones that complement your workflow, not stifle it. Oftentimes, I'd start my papers and projects by outlining on a white piece of paper to map out the plan through critical thinking, then use tech afterward. Everyone does it differently.

Tech Tools For Staying Organized in Your Doctorate Program:

Project Management: Trello, Asana, Monday, Airtable, Basecamp, Google or Microsoft Tasks, Todoist, Clickup, HubSpot, Things, Smartsheet
Writing & Research: Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, APA, Academic Writer, Grammarly, Evernote, Otter, Notion
Communication: Voxer, Texts, WhatsApp, Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, Loom, Kaltura
Creative: Slidedocs, Loom, Miro, Figma, InVision, Canva, Google and Microsoft Apps

5. Communication And Teamwork

I attended a cohort-based program as I was looking for life-long connections and a cohort with a dedicated problem-based-learning team really worked well for me. My early experiences with my PBL team were stressful, self-serving, and insecure. I wasn't speaking up when I had an idea or stating what boundaries I had for working ahead on our coursework. I had to learn to communicate and say what I needed, which felt hard at first. We started as a team of five, and halfway through the second course, we were down to a group of three, and the three of us were a fantastic group with researchers, writers, editors, APA experts, all pulled together into a group of three we called Palm Trio (we even made a logo).

A smaller group meant more work for each of us; if one of us dropped out, the others would need to join a different team. So, we committed to finishing the program together, no matter what.

Something about the shared goal, our commitment to one another, and working to finish that second class formed our secret sauce as a team of three. We discussed the joy of doing this degree and learning together, even when it felt like a lot of responsibility.

We'd collectively hold each other accountable for our weaknesses, such as overthinking an assignment, and we'd continue to push forward together even when we didn't have full clarity on assignments. We figured it out!

Throughout the program, we learned about each other’s strengths, openly embraced communication about our weaknesses, and sought to become better people as we pulled together, gave and received candid feedback, and moved forward with graduation in sight.

We also became lifelong friends. As scholars, we each bring unique experiences and perspectives on educational programs, materials, worldviews, and research. The magic happens when we collaborate, share ideas and findings, and cheer one another on in the work. And each of us has finished our degree and is now a doctor.

6. Perspective is Everything

How you view your doctorate makes all the difference. It's not just something to check off a bucket list but a part of your growth journey. The personal growth and development of your leadership skills make the academic journey genuinely transformative, regardless of the format.

Take your time with the ideas presented to you. Use them as a starting point to create a customized learning plan that suits your personal needs throughout your doctorate.

My learning plan even included shelving research and content I was interested in, which I didn't have time to read in-depth during my program, and creating a rich library to read from post-graduation. That rule also let me abandon the rabbit trails in my research that didn't apply to my direct project at the time.

7. Stay Focused on Graduation

Remember that you are investing in this experience, which is yours. While you must meet the requirements, you will also gain knowledge and emotional intelligence through personal and spiritual experiences if you seek to. You are not limited in what you can learn, but you do need to stay focused on hitting this goal of graduating (so say "not now" to rabbit trails in research!). Ultimately, my lifelong goal is to grow and make a positive impact on the world around me through my education, but graduating came first.

On The Doctorate Life Podcast, we hope that by sharing what we have learned and are learning, you can sift through the stories and apply the lessons that resonate most with you. If you’re new to an academic program and getting your bearings, start by trying a system for organization that seems like it may work for you. Remember not to journey alone. Reach out to your peers as lifelong friends and research partners.