Articles by Tarra Combs

Tarra is currently a 5th year Clinical Psychology PhD student and will be applying for internship this fall. She grew up in Pennsylvania and also completed her undergraduate degree there. Tarra then packed up and moved to the Chicago area for grad school. Going from a small, farm town to a big city area was a huge transition, but it opened up a lot of doors. Tarra has always loved working with kids, so a specialty focus in pediatric neuropsychology was the perfect fit. To de-stress, Tarra enjoys hanging out with friends, cuddling with her adorable cat, and reading non-school related books.

You Can Finish Your Dissertation Early – Here’s How

You Can Finish Your Dissertation Early – Here’s How

I recently defended my dissertation before going on internship. I set this goal during my 3rd year of graduate school. I really wanted to be 100% focused on internship when I began my rotation, and I wanted to be able to become immersed in as many opportunities as possible, including research and attending extra didactics and seminars.

However, I knew that with my dissertation looming over my head, this would be much more difficult to do and I would be left with no down time at all.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how I accomplished this, so I thought I’d share some tips. Of course there are always unforeseen roadblocks that complicate the process, and defending prior to internship is not always possible, but here is how I did it…