How I ended up at UCLA

I’m often asked how I chose UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) as the school I would attend to obtain my PhD. To be honest, I don’t feel as though I chose it, but that it chose me.

Before I was halfway through my MSN program, I began looking at nursing PhD programs. I also considered EdD programs, because my MSN is in nursing education, and I have a passion for teaching. Enrolled at the time in an online program, I was not keen on pursuing another online program, but I knew this meant I would have to move. I looked around the UCLA School of Nursing website, but did not see how the PhD program would be a good fit for me, because my research interest was nursing education and the PhD program at UCLA does not focus heavily on research related to that interest. In fact, until a chance meeting with the nursing school’s director of recruitment, outreach and admissions, my mind was made up that UCLA was not the place for me.

During a break at the 2010 Leadership Summit in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, sponsored by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, I approached UCLA School of Nursing’s exhibit table. To be honest, I was alone and, because the woman behind the table was also alone, thought I’d stir up a little conversation. I told Rhonda Flenoy-Younger—director of recruitment—that I had looked at UCLA, but didn’t think the program was for me.

She encouraged me to look at the information on a flash drive she handed me, and she took down my email address. She also introduced me to the dean of the School of Nursing. In speaking with him about my research interest, he encouraged me to apply to UCLA but not with the same research interest. When I returned home, I began receiving emails from Flenoy-Younger, inviting me to meetings of the Pan-African Nursing Students and Alumni Association (PANSAA) at UCLA. I ignored the first two meeting invitations, but responded to the third.

At the PANSAA meeting, I immediately felt a level of comfort among the students that I hadn’t felt at my undergraduate school or in the online MSN program from which I had recently graduated. Very interesting to me was that there were alumni in attendance, some who had graduated in the 1970s and ‘80s. Even the dean was there. I left that meeting feeling that, maybe, UCLA had something to offer after all. 

The next day, after attending a PhD information session presented by the UCLA School of Nursing (UCLA SON), I was sold! The support I felt from the faculty, their obvious love of research and UCLA, the personal stories of those on the student panel, and the commitment of the School of Nursing to provide tuition for all graduate teachers’ assistants was all I needed to make my decision. I left the session with my mind made up—I would apply to UCLA and would continue to apply until I was accepted.

A few days later, while attending the 2010 Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, I met a nurse educator-researcher who encouraged me to contact a faculty member at UCLA SON who was her personal friend. After contacting the professor, I set up a meeting with her.

First, though, I met with another faculty member, who encouraged me to choose a research interest about which I was truly passionate, not one that simply coincided with my MSN degree. At that point, my interest changed from nursing education to teen-pregnancy prevention. A week or two later, I met the friend of the nurse I had met at the AWHONN conference. Unbeknownst to me, the area of nursing about which I was now most passionate was the research area of this faculty member. I was sitting face-to-face with a world-renowned expert in teen pregnancy, and I had no idea! The encouragement I received from these two faculty members only strengthened my resolve to obtain my PhD from the UCLA School of Nursing.

Watch for my next post on choosing a doctoral program.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.

Congrats, grad!

I attended three graduation ceremonies this past commencement season. Each celebrated a different aspect of graduation.

The first celebration I attended was a dinner hosted by the UCLA Pan-African Nursing Students and Alumni Association. I sat next to one of my future classmates in the PhD program, and we talked about our anxieties as we start this new journey. Well, actually, we talked about my anxiety; she’s not anxious about starting school.

After dinner, the ceremony began. The dean of UCLA School of Nursing addressed the graduates and attendees. He talked about the need for us to give back. He reminded us that no one is able to make it on their own, so it is only right to reach back and help one another. His address made me proud to be a UCLA Bruin!

The best part of the event, and the part that made my eyes tear up, was when each graduate was called and asked to light a candle. They were then given a stole to wear with their regalia during the official campus graduation ceremonies. Playing in the background was the song “Never would have made it,” by Marvin Sapp, dedicated to the families and friends of the graduates: "Never would have made it, never would have made it without you. I would have lost it all, but now I see how you were there for me."

As each of the graduates walked to and from the center of the dance floor, I visualized the day I will walk that path, light my candle and receive my stole. I know it may be a bit early to think about my own graduation, but I believe in always keeping an end-goal in mind. When I feel like giving up, when I think the program is too much for me to handle, I will undoubtedly think ahead to my graduation. I will think about the day I am addressed by my doctoral dissertation committee as Dr. Montgomery. I will think about my participation in the doctoral hooding ceremony. And I will surely smile when I think about my graduation party. It’s going to be the celebration of the decade, and yes, I have already started to plan for it.

A week after attending that dinner, I attended two graduation ceremonies for my little sister. She participated in the Black Graduation Ceremony Saturday evening and the college commencement Sunday morning. The Black Graduation is always fun to attend because it’s a more intimate setting and is geared specifically toward the African-American community. The evening began with a traditional African-American family dinner—fried chicken, catfish, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, steamed vegetables, peach cobbler and sweet tea. After eating, the guests were ushered into the auditorium where we watched a slide show of the graduates until the ceremony began. I was proud to watch my sister walk across the stage. I ran up to the stage to take a few pictures of her and walked back to my seat with a gigantic smile on my face.

My sister Brittany and me

The next day, we woke up bright and early to attend the college commencement. I was sitting in the audience with my mother, aunts, cousins and my sister’s friends. We used our phones to communicate with my sister to figure out when she would line up to walk across the stage. We also made pacts with the families sitting nearby, promising to scream for the other families’ graduates. As my sister prepared to walk across the stage, I stood as close to the stage as security would allow and took a few pictures. When her name was called, my family and I screamed and hollered. (My voice was hoarse for the next two days, but it was worth it.) It marked the culmination of my sister’s college experience. Following the ceremony, the entire family went to lunch to celebrate my sister and her awesome accomplishment.

These celebrations were the last college graduations I will attend before beginning the final leg of my own formal education. Attending the graduations reminded me of how inspiring graduations are. When you graduate with a new degree, your accomplishment is celebrated by many people, not just yourself. I look forward to making my family proud, again. I look forward to walking across the stage and being hooded, again. I look forward to dressing up in graduation regalia for the final time. I look forward to taking graduation pictures. I definitely look forward to my graduation party. I look forward to it all!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.