i am really terrified. what if i suck at it?
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 19:45 (4 years ago) Permalink
then you suck at it. learn from it and move on. not everyone is successful at everything.
― chicago kevin, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 19:46 (4 years ago) Permalink
it's only a year. it will be done in a flash, and at the end you'll have a degree. don't worry too much.
― tehresa, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 19:48 (4 years ago) Permalink
i plan on not freaking out about this until the night before my first class, as per usual
― impudent harlot, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 19:49 (4 years ago) Permalink
^ otm. i am not letting myself freak out or worry about it until the first day of class =/. or at least until i first meet with my adviser. which should be within a couple of weeks...
― art hums, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 19:59 (4 years ago) Permalink
art hums, huh
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:00 (4 years ago) Permalink
i am having heart palpitations because it is all math classes and my undergrad was so fruity
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:01 (4 years ago) Permalink
also too busy crying about amount of loans i'm taking out to cover GS costs to worry about my actually level of preparation for course work
― impudent harlot, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:03 (4 years ago) Permalink
=)
― admrl, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:04 (4 years ago) Permalink
i sure do hum! (xpost).
bell_labs, are you going to grad school for math? or what are you studying that requires all math classes?
― art hums, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:05 (4 years ago) Permalink
being out of school for a while causes you to lose your confidence when you start grad school. after you get through your first few assignmnets you'll realize you can do this. or if it's really not working out, you'll figure that out pretty soon and then you can cut your losses and move on.
― velko, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:05 (4 years ago) Permalink
i'm getting an MS in finance, which is all math. not very difficult math, but still, math.
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:12 (4 years ago) Permalink
i was gonna say 'don't worry, you are smart, it'll be fine!' but i was just looking into the requirements for this masters in nursing program here and for someone who did an undergrad in writing and a masters in communications/media, it caused me total O_O - but i'm still thinking abt it, or something medical/health-care related, for some reason... so i guess, yknow, it WILL be okay, but it also will be a lot of work! all you can do is do the work! and then the work will be done!
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:20 (4 years ago) Permalink
i mean, you won't have to do organic chemistry, that's gotta count for something
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:21 (4 years ago) Permalink
oh i have a friend with a BA who has just been trying to complete the prerequisites for nursing for about a year and a half, and still has about a year left before she can even APPLY to nursing school. that's way more dedication than i have.
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:25 (4 years ago) Permalink
but yeah. when i talked to the admissions counselor he just kept saying that it wasn't rocket science, it wasn't brain surgery, as long as i'm not afraid of numbers i will be fine. i am just worried that taking 4 classes at once of it will make my brain implode.
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:31 (4 years ago) Permalink
lol rrrobyn i think about nursing every time i hang out with my nurse friend who has way more $$$$ than me.
― tehresa, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:32 (4 years ago) Permalink
I sometimes think about people who have to work in offices.
― admrl, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:32 (4 years ago) Permalink
i'm enough of a masochist that i'm enrolling in a certificate program this fall (a green building thing @ cal state fullerton).
― get bent, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:33 (4 years ago) Permalink
oh yeah helping ppl would be nice, too...
― tehresa, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:33 (4 years ago) Permalink
i gotta get outta this office workin racket xpost whoa xpost
yeah i'd have to do 2 semesters of 3 courses each semester of science pre-reqs + what they call a 'qualifying year' which is 5 classes a semester plus a class in 2-month summer session + 2 years of the actual masters program! i'd have to update my cpr before the program
but i don't know, it looks pretty cool
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:34 (4 years ago) Permalink
HEY YOU CAN TOTALLY DO IT!!!!!!!!!!
― max, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:34 (4 years ago) Permalink
AND YOU WILL PROBABLY BE GREAT AT IT!!!
max bringing what the thread needing
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:35 (4 years ago) Permalink
please tell me things i should know about being in grad school.
for example, have they invented a pill that makes studying fun?
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:35 (4 years ago) Permalink
also THANK YOU MAX
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:36 (4 years ago) Permalink
xanax (xpost)
― get bent, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:36 (4 years ago) Permalink
xpost yes, it is called beer
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:36 (4 years ago) Permalink
where fun = no anxiety attacks
― get bent, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:37 (4 years ago) Permalink
Based on friends' experiences and watching my prof parents and their students: find advisers/mentors that like to hang out and drink beer.
― dan m, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:37 (4 years ago) Permalink
also, it's only a year and think how awesome it will be when yr done
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:37 (4 years ago) Permalink
profs cut you more slack because you are an a-dult
― bnw, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:38 (4 years ago) Permalink
yeah i was going to stop drinking for awhile but you guys are making it sound like drinking will be U&K so i may have to reevaluate
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:38 (4 years ago) Permalink
-- bell_labs, Tuesday, July 29, 2008 7:45 PM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
huh going through this same shit right now. had a little minibreakdown a couple of weeks ago. program shouldn't be too hard hopefully (library science) but i'm going to be taking three classes and working full-time, all from home, plus i have to skip the summer intro class because there isn't enough room so i'm worried i'm already going to be behind once i start classes
― n/a, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:39 (4 years ago) Permalink
basically it's just the feeling that i don't really know how hard it's going to be - if it's going to be ok or if i'm biting off way more than i can chew
i'm going to be taking four classes and 1-2 modules and working full time!
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:40 (4 years ago) Permalink
they usually don't let you in unless they think you can hack it
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:40 (4 years ago) Permalink
in my experience they cut you LESS slack!
― get bent, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:41 (4 years ago) Permalink
at least you get to work from home too! that would save me like 2 hours a day.
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:41 (4 years ago) Permalink
^^^ was just about to post this
― max, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:41 (4 years ago) Permalink
don't they sometimes just let you in to take your money?
― bell_labs, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:42 (4 years ago) Permalink
all you can do is do the work! and then the work will be done! all you can do is do the work! and then the work will be done! all you can do is do the work! and then the work will be done! all you can do is do the work! and then the work will be done!
^^ this is the most otm thing about <s>grad school</s> life that has ever been said
― El Tomboto, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:42 (4 years ago) Permalink
endless group projects, some programs even have you keep the same group through the whole load. either way you will get to know your fellow inmates so try not to make any enemies or they will shank you in the shower (aka peer evaluation forms).
xpost lol modbot f'd up the code
― bnw, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:44 (4 years ago) Permalink
i drank way more beer and was way more social in grad school than in undergrad, or even in non-school life (but it took me way too long to finish gradschool).
bell, that is a lot - you can do it, but as you know, you will not be very social and prob not even be able to drink very much beer b/c of hangovers being no good for tight schedules
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:45 (4 years ago) Permalink
all you can do is do the work! and then the work will be done! is the mantra that got me to finish
― rrrobyn, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:46 (4 years ago) Permalink
make sure your boyfriend knows that you are really scared and stressed out about this and that over the next year even if you are in a bad mood and snappy you really do like him and appreciate his support and when its all over you guys will go somewhere nice for a weekend
― max, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:46 (4 years ago) Permalink
is this your 5th grad school thread?
― Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:46 (4 years ago) Permalink
lol u counting
― El Tomboto, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:47 (4 years ago) Permalink
Dude, n/a, Library School is easy. So easy. I have already taken ten hours towards my MLS while working full time at a University Library. I applied for the Master's program but my fucking GRE Math score kept me out. Really sucks. I took College Algebra a few times before I finally passed. I looked at the study materials for the GRE math and just shrugged, "yeah, I don't know this stuff." Bad idea. Now I need to get into a program or get a tutor, I have to relearn Algebra. For fucking Libraries. Don't undertand.
― Trip Maker, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:50 (4 years ago) Permalink
not to be an ass, but i did see this title and think, 'another one?!' xpost
― tehresa, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 20:57 (4 years ago) Permalink
i mean at least it was fun to read. not everyone is scarface, you know? people are entitled to varying degrees, academia is kind of fucked up rn, one does not negate the other.
― Woody Ellen (Matt P), Saturday, 6 April 2013 23:45 (1 month ago) Permalink
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/ etc.
― Woody Ellen (Matt P), Saturday, 6 April 2013 23:50 (1 month ago) Permalink
couldn't tell from the tone; why would a one year on say the West Coast be better though? anyway you look at it you lose
Well, a move to (many places in) the Northeastern US does seem more appealing for a number of reasons: I'm more familiar with the area and climate, I know people there, closer to family, big cities around with activity in new music + things to do + fairly diverse communities,... The couple of places I've been to on the West Coast have been beautiful, diverse, and culturally active. Plus, if it's anywhere near Vancouver, I'd be closer to people I know, again.
I have been supporting myself with a mix of sessional teaching, freelance composing/arranging, private teaching, and office temping, all of which I enjoy. The future is uncertain but I didn't see a reason to believe that a year of lecturing at SE Missouri State would bring me greater happiness than trying to keep this up. I guess this does mean that my chances went down from 0.6% to 0.57% or something. I have a friend in the same field who applies to EVERY position and spends 2-4 h/day working on job applications; I have no desire to do that.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 7 April 2013 00:21 (1 month ago) Permalink
My old colleague's husband got his Ph.D. in English from UBC. I think I mentioned it already, but he and a bunch of others applied to universities all over the US and Canada. Apparently, none of them got work except him, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, of all places.
You're brave for wanting to juggle all those things at once. Does freelance composing and arranging actually contribute a substantial amount to your monthly income, if you don't mind me asking? And how do you even find people who would want to pay you a fair amount?
― c21m50nh3x460n, Sunday, 7 April 2013 00:28 (1 month ago) Permalink
Grants
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 7 April 2013 00:30 (1 month ago) Permalink
So atm, the majority of my monthly income (will change soon)
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 7 April 2013 00:31 (1 month ago) Permalink
+ connections.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 7 April 2013 00:32 (1 month ago) Permalink
made through (uni or private) teaching, in two current cases.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 7 April 2013 00:33 (1 month ago) Permalink
there's been so many articles like the above for the last several years that anybody who starts a PhD in 2013 and isn't aware that they're most likely doomed from the get-go simply hasn't done their due diligence.
― HIGH-FIVES TO ALL MY COWORKERS AT THE QBERT SEX SWING (silby), Saturday, April 6, 2013 9:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Seriously! I mean, who are the journalists/editors who put these articles out thinking that they're doing anything but flogging the same deadest-of-horses for the millionth time? As if they're exposing some heretofore undiscovered truth and breaking the silence with these hard-hitting and challengingly original exposees?
Academia is a black hole, I get it. Moreover, what the fuck do you want me to do? Drop out and stop my entire life because some liberal politics and culture magazine wrote the 20th article in 10 months telling me not to get a degree?
I'm not going into debt, I'm not qualified to do any jobs at this point in my life anyways, and I actually enjoy school. Please let me ruin my life in peace!
― ed.b, Sunday, 7 April 2013 01:05 (1 month ago) Permalink
i imagine those articles are popular because the audience for those websites are exactly the kind of people who have either gone, considered going, or want to go to graduate school in the humanities--so everyone can approach it with their own particular kind of bitterness or schadenfreude.
― ryan, Sunday, 7 April 2013 01:08 (1 month ago) Permalink
as long as you're not going into to debt (& why would you go to grad school if you did?), then I think grad school's a good way to spend your twenties, esp compared to how lots of college educated people spend their twenties
it's not like most twenty somethings start businesses or whatever
― Euler, Sunday, 7 April 2013 01:44 (1 month ago) Permalink
― ryan, Saturday, April 6, 2013 6:08 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
heh this is way otm for me. sorry about the crazy attack earlier euler.
― Woody Ellen (Matt P), Sunday, 7 April 2013 02:39 (1 month ago) Permalink
boy did i wash out on my phd apps this year, incidentally
― attempt to look intentionally nerdy, awkward or (thomp), Sunday, 7 April 2013 12:49 (1 month ago) Permalink
time to learn a trade i guess *produces adze from pants pocket, spits on hands*
― attempt to look intentionally nerdy, awkward or (thomp), Sunday, 7 April 2013 12:50 (1 month ago) Permalink
Annual faculty pay averages $84,000.http://chronicle.com/article/2013-AAUP-Survey-Table/138291/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Meanwhile, average adjunct pay is $2,987 per three-credit course. http://chronicle.com/article/Adjunct_Pay_Conditions/136439/
Tenure-track and tenured faculty of the world, unite!
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 8 April 2013 15:08 (1 month ago) Permalink
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/04/graduate-school-advice-impossible-decision.html
― iatee, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 14:56 (1 month ago) Permalink
That's a really good article.
― caek, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 15:51 (1 month ago) Permalink
I liked it too but if there's one thing I could do without in this genre it's the de rigueur "lol maybe my brain is addled from too much critical thinking" reassurance of the audience.
― ryan, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 16:00 (1 month ago) Permalink
there's this nearly universal presumption that academic thinking/writing prioritized ambiguity and vagueness when if I learned anything it's about how to be very precise in what I'm trying to communicate. this is a valuable skill, even!
― ryan, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 16:02 (1 month ago) Permalink
How much more unhappy are graduate students than other people? (About fifty-four per cent of graduate students report feeling so depressed they have “a hard time functioning,” as opposed to ten per cent of the general population.)
haha what do they mean by 'functioning'
― j., Wednesday, 24 April 2013 16:24 (1 month ago) Permalink
yeah that seems like a reasonable point of view, & it's in sync with something I said here (or on some other thread here) recently: if grad school is fun & you don't go into debt, then it seems as a good a way to spend your twenties as what lots of people do in their twenties, & maybe, if it's really fun, even better; & if you end up getting a job because of what you did, then even more better
re unhappy grad students: isn't some of that the kinds of people who are attracted to grad school right out of undergrad rather than going into the "real world"?
― Euler, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 17:53 (1 month ago) Permalink
Yeah that strikes me as correlation more than anything.
― ryan, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 17:57 (1 month ago) Permalink
well it's probably a combination, isolate already-neurotic people from society and give them endless work, hmm they seem unhappy
― iatee, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 18:00 (1 month ago) Permalink
endless work aimed at gaining status within their peer group
like the status games are a big part of unhappiness for the egomanaics making up your average grad program, after all they got this far on smarts alone, how can they suddenly be just average or even subaverage
― Euler, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 18:11 (1 month ago) Permalink
haha that's true and probably why the job market is such a shock to many despite all evidence to the contrary. Those statistics always apply to someone *else*
― ryan, Wednesday, 24 April 2013 18:20 (1 month ago) Permalink
http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/on-quitting/
― 乒乓, Friday, 3 May 2013 17:33 (3 weeks ago) Permalink
http://backupminds.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/savage-minds-interview-sarah-kendzior/
― 乒乓, Sunday, 12 May 2013 20:18 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
i really liked her (possibly counterintuitive) point that grad schools need to move away from a careerist mentality and prepare students for working outside the academy. will pannapacker recently tweeted something about the humanities needing to move away from a model which essentially trains undergrads for graduate school.
― ryan, Sunday, 12 May 2013 23:32 (2 weeks ago) Permalink
Application for career break submitted today. Reason (c) to pursue further education opportunities.
― i gave ten pounds and all i got was a lousy * (darraghmac), Tuesday, 14 May 2013 16:30 (1 week ago) Permalink
(Y)
what ya doing?
― ohmigud (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 14 May 2013 16:37 (1 week ago) Permalink
Conversion masters to turn a useless business degree into a hopefully in-demand IT qualification. Have sussed out the course and my subsequent prospects with good industry contacts, the fees are heavily EU subsidised and subject to aforementioned career break the only thing stopping me is enough of a bank loan to survive as a student for 9 months as barriers go it's not going to get much easier so now or never really.
― i gave ten pounds and all i got was a lousy * (darraghmac), Tuesday, 14 May 2013 16:49 (1 week ago) Permalink
I'm gonna limit my all-out rant to the 77 grad school thread, but I cannot resist saying here that ALL OF YOU BLOVIATING ACADEMICS WITH YOUR TERRIBLE WRITING AND CONVOLUTED THEORIES OF THE BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS CAN SUCK IT
― quincie, Tuesday, 14 May 2013 16:57 (1 week ago) Permalink
yeah suck it!!!!!!!!!!!
― j., Tuesday, 14 May 2013 17:48 (1 week ago) Permalink
aw man but i don't wanna :(.
― ohmigud (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 14 May 2013 17:50 (1 week ago) Permalink
i am a good writer and have clear and concise theories of the irreducibly complex. im a rebel.
― ryan, Tuesday, 14 May 2013 17:54 (1 week ago) Permalink
your theories can suck it too, separately
― j., Tuesday, 14 May 2013 18:13 (1 week ago) Permalink
ALL THEORIES CAN SUCK IT. I choose reality.
― quincie, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 16:06 (1 week ago) Permalink
So can experiments that are ATHEORETICAL, though.
― ljubljana, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 16:16 (1 week ago) Permalink
I just finished a terrible chapter by terrible people about developmental systems theory that basically posited that like all human development studies are fundamentally flawed because we are all special flowers interacting bidirectionally with our special environment and blah blah blah shut up and give me some nice lab experiments, thankyouverymuch!
― quincie, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 16:24 (1 week ago) Permalink
The Aquatic Flower theory if human evolution
― Treeship, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 18:22 (1 week ago) Permalink
I think the swellest of terrible theory academic posts to have would be evolutionary psychologist. Seems like u spend ur time chillin and occasionally decide to come up with a nice story to explain ooh, let's say, why women wash the dishes better than men do. Aaand done.
― ohmigud (Merdeyeux), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 18:29 (1 week ago) Permalink
Speaking of special flowers, what do you make of this, Q? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=on-the-trail-of-the-orchid-child
― ljubljana, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 18:41 (1 week ago) Permalink
I mean I agree that we are all special aquatic flowers interacting bidirectionally with our special environments, but these dozens of theorists whose entire careers are spent saying that over and over and over again in terrible academese--this is pretty annoying to someone who is studying become a social worker and do actual social work. With all of the special aquatic flowers interacting bidirectionally with their special environments.
Mostly I'm just pissed because this particular author was basically like "all human development research is flawed, so why bother, let's just sit here and write millions of masturbatory sentences about how we have so much insight about completely obvious things."
― quincie, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 18:44 (1 week ago) Permalink
R I have zero background in psych, child or otherwise, so I had no idea that there are actual flower childen! See I liked reading that article because it talked about actual research findings, findings that may actually be useful and generalizable and I think are totally worth doing. Spending your career making up and writing about theories with no practical application--well, I won't say that stuff is not worth doing, but it is certainly not my cup of tea!
Luckily, we'll be moving quickly out of theory land and into neuroscience land soon, where I shall bloom like the special aquatic flower that I am.
― quincie, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 18:52 (1 week ago) Permalink
the keguro macharia "on quitting" essay linked upthread makes me wonder if we should have a "what the fuck am I getting into with this academic employment stuff" thread
but then, academic employment IS one of the things you might be getting into via grad school, so perhaps not, maybe that discussion IS part of this discussion
still, I am wondering how many ilxors are now post-degree and actively teaching, and if there's already a thread by/for people in the post-graduate school aftermath who are asking themselves what the fuck they're getting into with this academic professionalism stuff?
I found that macharia essay really moving, troubling, and provocative- especially the way that it tests a kind of trite nostrum ("the personal is the political") by walking us through how depression and racism multiplied and fed into each other in one case- i would love to know what his colleagues at umd thought about the essay too, and it makes me think about how race works in relation to expectations in academic generally- I suspect that what he reports is really widespread and not specific to him
plus, as somebody who is up for tenure next year, the narration of a decision to walk away from the tenure track just hit me where I live
(I'm bracketing the argument about "theory" vs. empirical research, as it seems so field-dependent as to be hard to talk about meaningfully, and I'm not sure that a 'defense of theory' is really warranted by someone just going "theory, yuck", as mileage may vary)
― the tune was space, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 19:52 (1 week ago) Permalink
I started this:
Help, I'm trapped in an ivory tower! Or "what the fuck am i getting myself into with this academia stuff"
But it didn't really go anywhere. Feel free to revive!
― scintilla (seandalai), Wednesday, 15 May 2013 22:09 (1 week ago) Permalink
Q, for some reason I'd got it into my head that you had a psych background somewhere along the way - were you more 'pure' genetics? lol, don't know how to break down sub-disciplines of genetics and really really should.
Tune, the grad students would probably find the 'academia stuff' really helpful as well. and terrifying.
― ljubljana, Wednesday, 15 May 2013 23:40 (1 week ago) Permalink
Nope, no psych background, not even neuroscience! Microbiology with a specialization in molecular virology. Academic molecular virologists do a lot of writing, but the vast majority is research results, not theory per se. So I am struggling a bit getting into the social theory stuff, whereas I have no problem with the social research stuff. I loves me some data!
― quincie, Thursday, 16 May 2013 17:38 (1 week ago) Permalink
Q: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22555447
― ljubljana, Friday, 17 May 2013 13:00 (1 week ago) Permalink
I like the sound of that accelerated program, actually! The fact that some social work requires licensure (which in turn requires a graduate social work degree, at least in the U.S.) has more to do with the lobbying efforts of the National Association of Social Workers and other professional organizations, which are charged with "protecting" their membership. . . of licensed social workers.
― quincie, Friday, 17 May 2013 14:38 (1 week ago) Permalink