It's finally real - I'm going to be starting my PhD by the end of this year. It's been a strange journey to get to this point so far. It's actually my third time applying to UT - I didn't get in for undergrad, and I applied for PhD admission previously in 2021. It's also been a windy road in terms of realizing that I wanted a career in research/academia. When I first entered undergrad, I thought that I was going to go do a PhD immediately after, but after my second year I decided that I just wanted a career as a software engineer instead. We've now come full circle, and I empirically know that I enjoy researching and experimenting a bit more than product-focused engineering. At the start of 2024, I decided that I'll never meet my goals unless I work towards them (profound, I know), so I charted out a year long plan - a step-by-step approach to gain admission into a PhD program. I'd like to write more about what my plan was, and how I went about it, but suffice to say, having a plan helped. I can't say that it's all sunshine and roses - there are a few rejections I'm pretty bummed about - but the hard work did pay off, and I'm so hyped to go join the program at UT Austin. The labs I've talked to so far are working on some really cool problems, and as someone who's cumulatively lived in Austin for almost 16 years, I think it's not a bad place to live*. The weather here definitely agrees with me, and I have an awesome community here.

This journey has taught me so much about myself. I better understand my strengths and weaknesses, and I have so much more clarity about how I want to grow in the future. At the end of undergrad I often felt consumed by this sense of insecurity - that there was so many things I didn't know. Now, I know that there's so much I don't know, but I also feel confident that there's nothing that can't be learned - it's just a matter of time and effort.

I'm so very grateful to be surrounded by so many supporting people who've helped me come this far. I'm excited to have the opportunity to make them all proud and succeed in the next phase of this endeavor!