Dissertation Coaching
Feeling overwhelmed and frustrated in grad school?
You are not alone. We’re here to help.
Finish your dissertation and graduate.
We offer a full concierge service with hands-on support and strategic planning throughout the entire dissertation process. We are with you every step of the way until your dissertation is approved and you cross the stage.
The Problem
Every doctoral student’s worst fear is ending up with student debt and no degree. Unfortunately, for nearly half of all graduate students, this becomes a reality.
Why? Because universities rarely provide the support students need to complete their programs. That’s where we come in.
Through expert dissertation coaching, we help students address all these problems, finish their dissertation, and graduate.
Challenges Our Clients Face:
Not understanding the feedback from their chair
Having a poor relationship with their chair
Running out of time to complete their program
Running out of money for tuition
Getting stuck with the writing process
Problems with alignment
Issues with their literature review
The Solution: Expert Dissertation Coaching
We offer comprehensive, expert support throughout the dissertation process. Our coaches are award-winning scholars and faculty members who serve on and chair dissertation committees and can offer expert perspectives
Unique Benefits of Working with Us
Availability
We offer clear, open channels of communication. No more waiting around for weeks to receive feedback. You are our first priority. We respond to your inquiries within a day. Plus, you’ll be working with an actual human being who’s not just running your work through a machine.
Understanding
We’ve been where you are now. We treat you with empathy and understanding, as a whole human being. Many of our clients have seen the worst of academia, and it’s important to let them know that they’re not alone, and they’re not imagining it. While we can’t fix the problems of academia, we can help you navigate them. We are here to genuinely listen to you, and to create a connection based on trust where you can ask the questions you’re afraid to ask your chair.
Expertise
Our coaches are award-winning scholars and faculty members who serve as dissertation committee chairs. Each of them has years of experience consulting and guiding students through the dissertation process.
While our competitors may have Ph.D.s, few have actually served as committee chairs. Many don’t have experience as faculty, and they haven’t mentored students. Our coaches have expertise you can rely on – and that makes the difference between your success and failure.
Personalization
We offer a personalized approach that’s tailored to your specific needs. We get to know the details of your goals, learning style, and how we can best support you in making it across the finish line.
The 4-Step Coaching Process
Step 1: Free 3-Minute Consultation (Optional)
Talk with your coach free of charge. You have the chance to ask questions, communicate your needs, and see if it’s a good fit. We don’t pressure you or use hard sales tactics – we want to make sure it’s the right fit for you.Step 2: Kickoff Meeting
We have a kickoff meeting where we go through what your goals are, what you’ve accomplished, and the major snags you’ve hit. Did you get bad feedback from your committee? Are you having problems communicating with your chair? Are you unable to get writing done? Have you lost momentum in your program?Step 3: Create a Plan
Together, we create a strategic plan to address the roadblocks. We use our insider knowledge and decades of experience guiding students through the dissertation process to strategically engage challenges.Step 4: Execute the Plan + Weekly Support
We have weekly meetings to support you in implementing the plan we developed in the kickoff session. We also address any new questions or issues that arise between sessions. In addition, we offer email support and document review between sessions. We send reminders, answer questions, and offer feedback & encouragement. After you do some writing – whether it’s a section of your dissertation, an email to your chair, or slides for your presentation – we’ll review it and offer feedback.
What is dissertation coaching?
Dissertation coaching is a personalized structure designed to meet your goals and timeframe.
Our dissertation coaching package is a full concierge service. We walk you through the entire process from start to finish.
Learn More
Interested in learning more about the comprehensive and expert support we provide?
Our award-winning coaches are scholars and faculty members who serve on and chair dissertation committees. Their expert perspectives will help guide and inform you throughout the dissertation process.
Results
What results can you expect to see from coaching? Here are some of the goals we’ve helped clients achieve:
Graduating and having their dissertation accepted by the graduate college.
Getting promoted to leadership positions.
Publishing articles in peer-reviewed academic journals.
Preparing presentations, taking research to conferences.
Becoming a full-time academic.
Getting positive comments and feedback from their committee.
Getting their prospectus accepted.
Passing the proposal phase.
Passing qualifying exams.
Successful dissertation defense.
Final revisions accomplished successfully.
Finding success with a career in academia.
Professional success outside of academia.
Meet Your Coaches
Dr. Courtney Watson
Qualitative Coach
Courtney Watson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English at Radford University Carilion, in Roanoke, Virginia. Her areas of expertise include undergraduate and graduate curriculum development for writing courses in the health sciences and American literature. Read more.
Dr. Marissa Ericson
Quantitative Coach
Marissa Ericson, PhD is Principal Statistician at the University of California Irvine and a professor and dissertation Chair at California Lutheran University and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and California Lutheran University, teaching courses ranging from Dissertation to Research Methods. She has extensive experience with complex data sets, study design, and statistics of all levels and has authored, co-authored, and provided statistical support for many peer-reviewed publications in the broad areas of psychology, neuroscience, and survey design. Read more.
FAQs
What does a coach do?
What we do depends on what kind of support you need. Some students need a writing coach who will help them set weekly goals and stick to them. Others are looking for someone to give them advice about how to handle the relationship with their chair. Some want help interpreting committee feedback and giving them what they really want to see. Others want to ask all the questions their chair doesn’t have time to answer. Some need guidance during the data collection and analysis phase. Still others need help preparing for their defense.
Whatever your needs, we will meet with you weekly to support your goals, provide email support in between sessions, and review the documents you’re working on to offer feedback and ensure you’re on the right track.
What can a coach help me with?
These are some of the things your coach can help you with:
- Navigating your relationship with your chair and committee
- Developing your idea and refining your topic, writing your prospectus
- Finding a gap in the literature and developing your literature review
- Research support (tips and tricks to being an effective researcher and not driving yourself crazy)
- Mastering academic voice and style
- APA style and citations
- Avoiding plagiarism and finding your voice as a writer
- Creating milestones and having regular check ins
- Document review and feedback
- Interpreting feedback from chair or committee to give them what they want
- Preparing for your defense with a slide review and mock presentation
- Final revisions
When should I start?
It’s best to begin working with us as early on as possible in the process. Doing so saves you from having to clean up issues that could have been addressed earlier. We can even support you through classwork in graduate school. If you’re starting to work on your prospectus in Semester 3, we can help you knock that out of the park and be on your way to dissertation success.
That said, we have worked with clients beginning at every stage of the process – including the very end.
The most important thing to remember is, once you start working with us, we are with you until you cross the stage.
Can you write my dissertation for me?
No. We do not write dissertations or offer any other service that would compromise our academic integrity. We are active scholars and professors and maintaining our integrity is our highest priority.
How much does dissertation coaching cost?
Coaching costs $500/month.
How long will I need to be coached?
That depends on the level of support you need. We’re here as long as you need us. We’ve had students resolve their problems in one month, and others stay long-term.
What is the structure of coaching?
We meet for one hour every week. We’ve found this is the most effective way to guide students through the dissertation process, as it provides structure, accountability, and accessibility. We also offer phone or email support and document review in between coaching sessions.
How are the sessions structured?
There is no typical session. Everyone comes with different issues and concerns, and we meet you where you are. That said, here is a broad outline of how sessions usually work.
The first ten minutes is usually spent catching up on the work you did (it helps if you send us what you’ve worked on in the previous week). We go through the comments we made on your work. Then we take down the document and talk, answering questions and providing guidance.
We can offer research advice, style advice, structural advice, and much more. We answer as many questions as you have during a session, whether that’s two or twenty. Either way, we’re here to cut through the fog of academia and make sure everything is clear for you.
How long is each session?
Each session lasts on hour.
I have problems with my dissertation chair. Can you help?
Yes! Many clients come to us because they have problems communicating with their dissertation chair. We can help you understand the internal politics that may be influencing your chair and committee. We help you understand how to communicate effectively with your chair and committee.
