In this reflection, the author proposes that doctoral education is currently undergoing paradigm devolution. Her perspective is that of a doctoral student, specifically a full-time graduate student working towards a Ph.D. in adult education. This fall semester marks her last of coursework, and she finds herself searching to make meaning of the experience. The author functions in the universe of her university in an elliptical orbit. At the risk of swelling faculty egos, she faces a gravitational pull towards a center of faculty with the light and heat of their reputations, training, experiences, and publications. Her peers could be separated into orbits that differ by distance: (1) the "lifers"; (2) the "vampires"; and (3) the "who's". The author offers descriptions of these orbits.