We are Beatrice and Chiamaka from the Savvy Afro SuccesS team aka SASS. This post will serve as our introductory post to help you get to know us better. Enjoy!
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The SASS Blog
Different Graduate Advisor experiences
This is a series of letters to a new graduate student, where we share learnings from our experience, and things we wish someone shared with us. In this letter, we tell the story of folks who made different choices during advisor selection. Read the previous letter for tips on advisor selection
So advisor selection process is over, and you’ve picked an advisor now what? Let’s address a group of people that aren’t feeling too great at the moment – those who did not get the advisor they wanted. Maybe that person is you, reading this letter. Maybe it’s your friend (go ahead and share this blog article with them). And you’re wondering to yourself, how do I go through this process again? None of the research topics left sound interesting to me. How am I expected to ever find an advisor?
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Dealing with school admissions rejection
For some of you, this admissions decisions period did not bring the joy that you anticipated. You have perhaps received rejection letters from the schools you had hoped to be accepted into. In this blog post, we want to offer some tips on how to deal with rejection from schools. The most important thing is to realize that there are so many factors that go into acceptances at school, and this is not a reflection of who you are. Note, this blog is written for graduate applicants but can also apply to college applicants.
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Help I have no leadership experience; Tips for your application essay
One of the questions we get often is “ What am I going to write about in the leadership section of my Statement of Purpose (SOP)” ? Our answer: anything you’ve done outside of classes. The worst thing you can do is not have a good answer to this question. Admissions officers are always looking to bring in a class of well-rounded students. Read about it here.
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Year 1 Reflections with SASS co-founders
Welcome to 2024. We know, Time flies! In this article we offer up several reflections on the past year at the Savvy Afro Success. Did you know we officially turned 1 year in 2023? We can’t believe it either. It’s been an incredible year filled with lots of highs, laughter, and some lows. As a team, we’ve learned so much and grown on this journey to improve and better serve you, our audience (including, you first timers and returnees 😀).
We asked the co-founders specific questions about the year, and here is what they had to say.
Reflections – Memorable experiences
Question 1. What has been your favorite part of running Savvy Afro Success?
BN: For me, one of my favorite parts has been inspiring and enlightening students on possibilities that are available to them, for which they might not have been aware. This has happened through our workshops (both virtual and in-person), virtual webinars, discovery calls with potential mentees, IG lives and coaching of mentees. The engagement from the students and feedback about the clarity they’ve gained from interacting with us has been encouraging.
CO: My favorite part has been meeting different students from all over the world, hearing their stories, and connecting them to the right people.
Reflections – Surprises
Question 2. What surprised you this year?
CO: A lot of people are unwilling to invest in the resources and time it takes to be successful. It is disheartening to see people turn away from a service that we both know will benefit them tremendously. Even more surprising is the fact that cost is not always the limiting factor.
BN: It has been interesting to see that sometimes you may want change and improvement for people so much more than they want it for themselves. We are still discovering what it may take to get our message out there to more students who have an innate desire to succeed.
Question 3. What was the most unexpected thing you experienced?
BN: There’s a pool of people that need this information, yet certain reasons exist that influence their willingness to commit to the process.
CO: It turns out running a business is actually hard. 😆 I would even venture and say almost as hard as getting a Ph.D., or pretty close
Onwards to Yr 2 and 2024
Question 4. What are you looking forward to in year 2?
CO: Figuring out what our niche is going to be and creating specific tools and experiences for students. It would be great to give the people what the people want. We love writing blogs that answer student’s specific questions, so keep those questions coming!
BN: Intentionally & strategically reaching more students . Exploring other means to get to the students beyond social media and word of mouth. This is an exciting challenge we are taking on. We are looking forward to next level growth.
If you, dear readers have other thoughts and comments on what you would like to see this year, let us know in our comment section below.