Why Grad School?

"Oh, so you're in grad school? Why'd you decide to go back? What do you intend to do with that?"

I face this question on just about a daily basis.

I never thought I'd really mind answering it, until I realized that I'm just not good at answering it. Why? I don't know.

I'd guess though that it has to do with my not having the one thing that I want to do with grad school nailed down like a lot of other people in my classes might. Ask one of them, and you'll receive an answer like, "Oh, I want to manage a hospital," or "I really, really want to open my own nursing home chain."

And then you get to me.

"Well, uhhhh...I like to write. I really love personal training too."

This is what throws people off. It doesn't take much to become a personal trainer. I was slightly miffed in high school when I realized that you didn't even have to go to college to become one. Literally, ANYONE can take a weekend course/test and then go around marketing themselves as a personal trainer. The best don't do this, but it gives you an idea as to how easy it is to start (and why so much fitness science crap is out there).

And so the conversation shifts to why in the world would I continue to study, and spend all of that money when "all you want to do is train people". But I don't just want to be a personal trainer. I want to truly know my stuff. I want to give people advice that works. That's what they're paying me for.

Would it even be ethical to do otherwise? I've seen it before. A client who's easily 70 pounds overweight, and therefore already at an increased risk of heart disease, gets nutrition advice from some trainer telling him to eat a diet that's 60% fat (seriously)! He's not losing any weight, and his arteries aren't going to get any better!

When people come to me, they often realize that unless they change something soon, it's only a matter of time before something happens. And so, my goal is to help them to lose the weight as safely and efficiently as possible. Prolonging the process only puts them in danger.

After my undergrad, I realized that my understanding of nutrition wasn't near as good as it needed to be in order to help people to the best of my abilities. I not only wanted, but needed to know more about a subject that I love if I wanted to have the greatest possible impact I could on these peoples' lives.

I want to help these people. I want to help them to live better, happier, and healthier. I want to help people lose weight. I want to be qualified to give sound advice to people with eating disorders. I want to raise goats, write books, work with bariatric surgery patients, open a gym, and write blogs.

And so, I guess the best way to answer that question is, "I've got a couple of ideas."