Ten Years, One Degree, and a Thousand Rejections

Have you ever been told you’re “overqualified”? Or asked why you’re applying for a job that looks above your pay grade? If you’ve ever felt like all your academic effort didn’t deliver the future you expected, this podcast is for you. I created Ten Years, One Degree, and a Thousand Rejections to explore what happens when achievement and rejection collide. It's inspired by my own journey, a decade-long pursuit to complete my degree, prolonged unemployment, and the quiet but heavy consequences of a system that overlooks late bloomers.

This project is a conversation about what happens when higher education promises success, but life doesn’t deliver on that promise. I use storytelling, research, and curated media sources to unpack internalized bias, overqualification, and how resilience is often misunderstood. The podcast speaks to job seekers, adult learners, and those who feel invisible in traditional mentorship models. Instead of damage-centered language, it emphasizes reinterpretation and complexity, showing that rejection is not a dead end—it’s a pivot point. I aim to validate those who feel unseen and offer solidarity, not solutions.