The enrollment and transfer behaviors of college students are diverse. As a result college students travel various pathways to the baccalaureate degree. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the lived experience of students who entered higher education through an associate of applied science (AAS) program and then continued in higher education to earn a bachelor of applied science (BAS) degree. To explore this phenomenon, eight participants completed two in-depth interviews regarding their lived experience as students on this educational pathway. Five structures emerged from the data to frame the participants' experiences on the AAS to BAS pathway: "disengagement," doubt," "knowledge of something different," "significant relationships," and "transformation." These five structures interacted in discrete ways to characterize the participants' experiences as "pushing through disillusionment" related to education, the profession, and self. The participants' moving through three dimensions of disillusionment along the pathway formed the meaning and the essence of the phenomenon, "dogged determinism." "Dogged determinism" denotes the willful attitude assumed by the participants as they pushed through their illusions. "Dogged determinism" explains how the direction chosen when the participants encountered their illusions was the most probable option for the participants, at that particular time, and under that set of circumstances. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]