A terrified, yet resolute grad student presents her dissertation prospectus to her advisory committee, submitting herself to their will while questioning what it really means to “prospect” at all. Then: a stark realization.

Grad School Gothic

What do grad school and the Gothic have in common? More than you might think...

In My Gothic Dissertation, the first-ever Ph.D. dissertation to be produced in podcast form, Anna Williams invites you along on her quest to complete her Ph.D. in English and escape the Grad School Gothic for good.

You'll hear horror stories circulated by Ph.D. students behind closed doors, be a fly on the wall during real-life defense meetings, and hear education experts weigh in on the old-school training practices that can make the Ivory Tower feel like a terrifying place to those who don't traditionally belong.

Along the way, you'll also traverse through the pages of some classic Gothic novels, catching up with literary heroines on educational journeys in The Mysteries of Udolpho, Charlotte Bronte's Villette, and of course, Frankenstein.