Liz Joslin

There are a ton of opportunities at TCC and beyond, so don't limit yourself."

Like many TCC students, Liz Joslin didn’t take the “traditional” route to college. And when she started taking classes at TCC, she had no inkling that she’d end up transferring to Yale.

Joslin left high school in the middle of her Junior year due to family circumstances. After getting her GED and working for a few years she joined the Army, working in IT security. She left the military to start a family while her husband was finishing his own service. During the year she spent at home with her daughter, she took time to reflect on what she wanted to do next. Eager to try something new, she enrolled in a massage program that offered evening classes.

“While I enjoyed the program, after graduating and getting my license I kept thinking about the anatomy classes I had taken,” Joslin said. “I worked over that summer, but quickly realized I really wanted to go back to school. So, that led me to looking into colleges in the area and TCC was the closest fit to what I needed. I started classes in the fall.”

Joslin spent her first year at TCC trying to balance family and school obligations. As an evening student she wasn’t very involved with campus activities, although she did make some good friends in her evening classes. Then she was chosen to be a Supplemental Instruction (SI) leader for a Math 95 class.

“I was nervous about it at first because math is not my favorite subject (although I do really enjoy statistics),” Joslin said. “However, it ended up being a wonderful experience.”

Joslin’s experience as a SI leader made her feel like she was making a difference, and it helped her gain confidence and a deeper appreciation for mathematical concepts.

“It’s a great program and one I’d highly recommend getting involved in, as a leader or attending sessions.”

Unsure of what she wanted to major in, Joslin took a variety of distribution credits during her first year at TCC. Anatomy and biology interested her, but she’d always loved literature and language.

“I went back and forth between my love for science and humanities,” Joslin said.

Then, in the last quarter of her first year, she took a Survey of Anthropology course and fell in love with the subject.

“I couldn’t get enough of it – I was up researching and watching documentaries all the time on my own for fun. So, I knew pretty immediately this was a serious passion for me. It brings together my love of natural science, culture, language, and history.”

Joslin had originally hoped to transfer to the University of Washington. But she started researching biological anthropology programs and found Duke’s evolutionary anthropology program. An episode of NPR’s “Hidden Brain” podcast featuring Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos got her interested in Yale. While looking into their Anthropology department, she came across a program specifically for non-traditional students.

“The Eli Whitney Students Program at Yale is for students who have had a 5 year or more break in their education at some point and who have not yet earned a bachelor’s degree,” Joslin said. “Most applicants come from community colleges and have had breaks due to military service, careers, or other unique circumstances. While I knew both were very competitive programs, there was no risk in applying and I just decided to go for it.”

Accepted into both programs, Joslin chose Yale. She plans to finish her BA and then apply for PhD programs, ideally in Human Evolutionary Biology. Her current goal is a career in research, but Joslin has always been open to surprising herself, and there a lot of things she could envision doing in the future.

Joslin has four suggestions for new TCC students:

1. Explore anything that interests you. You may discover something that you weren’t interested in when you started.

2. Reach out for help before you need it. Go to office hours, go to tutoring, or start a study group.

3. Do all of this early. The more you review, practice, and have to talk through concepts with other people, the more the information will cement in your mind and that will set you up for success in later classes.

“TCC has so many resources and some of the most kind and supportive professors I’ve ever met,” Joslin said. “Everyone I met genuinely wanted to help.”

Most important of all is:

4. Don’t limit yourself. “Don’t sell yourself short; be passionate, genuine, and go for what you want. There are a ton of opportunities at TCC and beyond, so don’t limit yourself.”