Professionally, I have extensive managerial experience spanning 16 years at two major companies: McDonald’s and ALDI. This background helped me develop skills in time management, multitasking, profit and loss, customer service, marketing, scheduling, and training employees. Despite those achievements, something felt missing.
When I decided to complete my BA in anthropology at Southern New Hampshire University, I discovered a new sense of purpose. Learning about medical anthropology sparked a deep interest in how culture shapes health experiences. When I graduated, I still felt unprepared to become a practicing anthropologist.
I found the University of North Texas’ online Master’s in Applied Anthropology and enrolled. As a mom in my thirties with three young children, I often question whether pursuing higher education at this stage of life is the best use of my time. Imposter syndrome arises. Can I make a difference?
As I thought about a research focus, I returned to my experience as a breastfeeding mother. I had no exposure to breastfeeding before becoming a mother, which made the experience feel unfamiliar and isolating. Yet, I was determined to learn how to nurse my child despite the challenges. Finding connections and community became essential, leading me to digital spaces where mothers openly shared advice, challenges, and encouragement. To shape the foundation of research based on my experience, I distributed a digital questionnaire to a local mom group to understand the challenges breastfeeding mothers faced and the support networks they trusted.
Now, I am deep into research for my thesis, Navigating Support: An Analysis of Breastfeeding, Maternal Networks, and Digital Peer Communities. The research documents the personal stories of breastfeeding mothers, to understand how support influences experiences and decisions. In partnership with a local lactation consultant, my goal is to identify ways to enhance breastfeeding education and support services, ultimately improving maternal health outcomes in both clinical and community contexts. Through my research, I developed close relationships with my participants.
My work explores how mothers find and use breastfeeding support, including support from professionals, family, and online communities. Although the literature strongly supports breastfeeding as beneficial for both infants and mothers, many women stop breastfeeding due to limited support and structural and social barriers. I recruited 172 survey participants and 15 interview participants through local and global breastfeeding groups on Facebook, email outreach to a La Leche League contact, and peer sharing of a digital research flyer. I am collecting 200 surveys and conducting 15 interviews.
While my research focuses on the importance of mothers’ support networks, I recognized that these same principles of association applied to my experience as an online graduate student. I bonded with my study participants, and the way I formed a community with breastfeeding moms helped me move from feeling like an outsider to feeling a sense of belonging within a broader community. I realize that these same principles apply to my own experience as a graduate student learning to find connection and belonging. This realization reinforced the central question of this blog: what strategies enhance belonging when you are an online student?
Persevering in Graduate School: When You Feel Like an Outsider
- Network with anthropologists. You must network! Networking becomes a lifeline. Meeting people can feel intimidating, but essential for growth. Talk with advisors, faculty, and professionals from organizations such as ACRN, NAPA, AAA, and SfAA. Email an anthropologist whose article inspired you. Those who respond offer significant connections.
Reaching out to peers, mentors, and practitioners helps bridge the distance of online learning. Through virtual meetings, email exchanges, and social media groups, I have met anthropologists who have shared advice, reassurance, and sometimes simple reminders that I belong here. Each interaction reduces that sense of isolation and reinforces how the discipline thrives on diverse experiences and perspectives.
- Talk to other students. Peer connections are important. Studying anthropology remotely offers flexibility, but it can also create detachment from the community’s energy. When discussions happen on screens; networking requires effort, not chance benefits from encounters on campus. It is easy to feel like an observer rather than a participant.
Sharing ideas, frustrations, and advice with fellow students helps feeling supported. Create and join groups with your cohort to build community and exchange resources. Platforms such as Discord, text threads, or weekly Zoom “coffee dates” can transform a remote cohort into a network of friends and collaborators. These informal spaces offer encouragement, accountability, and a reminder that you are not navigating graduate school alone.
I may still be finding my place in this field, but I have learned that belonging often starts with showing up, even virtually. The more I connect, I see that anthropology is not confined to geography. Anthropology involves curiosity, care, and community. For those completing their degrees from afar, remember that distance does not diminish your voice. Keep reaching out. The connections you build will carry you further than you expect.
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