Steve Tippins Ph.D.Helping doctoral students get their dissertation accepted, succeed in their careers, & change the world | Academic Career Advisor | Dissertation Chair & Founder, Beyond PhD Coaching | 35 + years of experience.

PhD Success Stories

4 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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In this testimonial, the speaker reflects on a pivotal moment in their doctoral journey when they recognized the need for expert, one‑on‑one mentorship. Although they had already developed a substantial research structure, they struggled to synthesize their work, especially after the tragic loss of their son, which left them feeling isolated despite encouragement from colleagues. Seeking more personal support, they recalled having saved Dr. Tippins, Ph.D.’s Facebook page before even deciding to pursue a doctorate, intrigued by the novel concept of dedicated PhD coaching. This early interest underscores the importance they place on specialized, individualized guidance to navigate both academic and emotional challenges during their PhD.

Chapters

One thing you have to realize is that you need to know when you need help. I was at a place where, okay, I have the structure of my research, I developed quite a bit of it, but now it's pulling it together and I need some sort of expertise. Like, I need somebody that has already done this before to help me to get through it. Because like I said, I had lost my son and I was doing it on my own. I was getting encouragement from my colleagues, but I was like, I need someone more personal, like a one-on-one. Like, I need a— I need somebody to coach me through this. So I remember I had saved Dr. Tippins Ph.D. I think it's his page on Facebook, and this was before I even knew that I wanted to pursue my doctorate degree. I just took an interest in it because I'm like, oh, this is cool, I never saw this type of coach before specifically like for people that are getting their PhDs and doctorates. So I was like, oh, it'd be cool to like, you know, just to save it. Like, I didn't think that I was going to go to school to become a doctor, I just thought it was cool, like what he was doing was cool.