The article highlights the achievements of several celebrities who have pursued advanced degrees alongside their careers in entertainment. Notable figures include Dr. Ken Jeong, who transitioned from medicine to comedy, Dr. Shaquille O'Neal, who earned a doctorate in education fulfilling a promise to his mother, and Bridgit Mendler, who graduated with a JD from Harvard while delaying her PhD pursuits. Each shares insights about the challenges of balancing education and personal aspirations with various commitments and responsibilities.
Dr. Ken Jeong earned his medical degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and he completed his internal medicine residency in New Orleans, where he won the Big Easy Laff-Off. Soon after, he moved to LA to pursue comedy.
Dr. Shaquille O'Neal earned his doctorate in education from Barry University in 2012, fulfilling a promise he made to his mom that he'd finish college after leaving Louisiana State for the NBA. He told the Miami Herald, "Everyone thinks this is honorary. But this is not honorary. I put in four and a half hard years staying up late at night, studying, reading, rewriting papers Dr. Kopp marked up. The work was very rigorous, but very enjoyable. And I'm not done. I think I'm going to try law school next. I'm thinking about it. We'll see."
Disney Channel star Bridgit Mendler graduated with her JD from Harvard in 2024. She was also working towards a PhD, but she had to put in on pause. She tweeted, "The PhD is something I started working towards in 2020 and I pursued it jointly with my law degree but when I moved to California last summer and decided that for family reasons we would stay on the west coast, it had to go on pause. I apologize I really should have updated my LinkedIn page sooner. I'll still fight for it, but how it gets completed is up to the administration and my principal investigator and what they think is appropriate."
Ultimately, any parent or person trying to juggle hard things has experienced that sometimes you have to make hard choices. My parents have a saying: 'do everything it's a blast.' I enjoy pushing the boundary of the possible and saying yes to more things but also it is important to flex the muscle of prioritization and discernment. For myself I've found that learning when to say no or not right now can be invaluable.
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