what the fuck am i getting myself into with this grad school stuff

No one is impressed by their knowledge of Jane Austen.

NO ONE!!!!!

actually it doesn't describe my situation very well, it describes the academia bubble certain people are content to remain within. my problem has been wanting to get ahead in the real world and finding myself unable.

I read that article a while back. I don't agree with its argument. I agree that if you have any doubts about whether going to grad school in the humanities is right for you, you shouldn't go, but that's because the stress in achieving at a level adequate for hope at getting a job and ultimately a promotion is so high that you need to love this more than you love anything else; and doubt is a sign that you don't.

also, LJ it describes the situation in America.

yeah in england they use jane austen as money

whereas here in the usa we party in the usa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKnQjBf8wM

yeah caek posted that article back in november (and other people have also sent it to me, apparently assuming everyone goes to graduate school to escape the "real world" and never ever considers what their career prospects might be afterwards, so this is at LEAST the fifth time i've seen it).

(also, graduate school on fellowship does not just "sound like" a good place to ride out the recession, it IS if you're not leaving a good job to do it. i have several friends who are unemployed or have only been able to find part-time or temp work over the last year after losing their jobs, most of them are either living with or living off their parents again in their mid-20s, and yes, two of them are applying to go back to school in different fields - i have a really hard time finding anything to criticize there.)

Guys, I gotta remove my bookmark from this thread. Way too depressing.

For me, though, I'm not sure whether I'll end up with a tenure job somewhere, but I love my studies. So I don't see myself as ducking out of a bad economy. I see myself as studying what I love for a few years. If I end up with a career from it, great. And if I don't, I'll still be leaving school with two (or three) extra languages, tons of writing skills, and some teaching experience, and I can't imagine that'll hurt no matter what I go into next.

haha that article. kamerad first posted it here in february '09. nothing new under the sun.

ha jesus i didn't even notice it was a year old

grad school is still the same

no one has said anything on this thread that wasn't already in the groening cartoon ned read in high school

Mordy you do have an excellent point about school itself being worthwhile, I have to admit I fucking love it most of the time (and am really glad I worked after college to fully appreciate it).

I'm getting close to the time when I'll have to be applying to funding bodies for PhD monies. In the humanities. Lols. I am considering it very unlikely, but I really don't know what I'll do if I don't get anything, since the "take three years off to work full-time and save up enough to be able to study part-time, while working to pay the bills, over, ooh, seven years?" option sounds... less than ideal. Ayayayay.

Applying for grad school is expensive if you went to four universities. (Total cost of sending these four transcripts = $55, Boise State charging $15 extra if I want them to mail instead of fax.) (Also did not help that my mom lost my childhood immunization records & had to get MMR titers for $110 to prove to U. of Arizona that my parents weren't crazy in the '80s altho they are forgetful now.)

not to mention application fees and gres. some people take the gre multiple times but damn, that's $120 (or was it $140? don't remember!) a pop! are you doing applications now abbott?

gre hee hee

GRE was $150 (plus the $40 taxi ride there & back to the weird-ass non-bus-route strip- mall the place was in). I am doing apps right now & so is my husband + sick dog = defs emptying the pantry of pasta type of month.

geez, they've raised the price again. best of luck to you and your husband (and your dog ;)

Oh shit man this is all worth it bcz if nothing else I got to see this letter one of my faves people, a dude who I just respect & love so much, wrote for me. The kind of praise that will sustain you for a few years. I'm like almost in tears here.

:D

haha i have trouble reading those letters! had a rec written weeks ago and the guy attached the letter to an email to me and i still haven't read it. even though i know it's very good.

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/files/2010/01/educationalattainment.png

fml

gonna fucken treasure my half-percent

max, i'm guesing that factors in loss of earnings from loan payments? or is that the type of work taken with advanced degrees forgoes income from more profitable jobs elsewhere?

finding it hard to credit those as absolute figures, certainly.

i think they mean a person with a doctoral degree made 10% more in 1999 than in 2008, it's not decline in the same individual's earnings. right?

ok, got you.

so in real income terms the higher qualifications are becoming less of a relative advantage over time?

oic now

I take it that the meaning of that chart hinges on what "real" means in "real mean earnings".

earnings are real mean lately ; )

that is a microsoft graphs-authored chart i found on a blog post and thought might validate my "decision" to not apply to grad school

man I'll tell you though that when the doctoral life is good, it's very very good.

well it would be more helpful to look at the mean earnings of people with grad degrees over bachelors but since i think u prob want some liberal arts degree maybe it would be just too depressing :/

oh wow ppl are making relatively less now than ten years ago when the economy wasn't in the shitter

well people with bachelor's degrees and master's degrees are making relatively more..........

"relatively more" lol

i mean just sayin that plotting the change in earnings isn't as useful for grad school or no grad school decision making as, say:

difference in earnings between levels of educational accomplishment v. difference in cost (both $$/time) for achieving levels of education

and that only holds water if you're making your educational decisions based on earning potential, which anyone considering an advanced degree in the humanities likely isn't doing

i make all decisions based on my earning potential

no, you should do it for the sweet robes:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/14/us/18obama2blog.jpg

from my alma mater (I didn't buy the robes b/c lol @ $2,000 but my mom said she would buy them (before she knew the cost); one day I'll take her up on it).

i thought the school you teach at pays for those when you get tenure, guess it depends on the school

Bear in mind the period encapsulates a time where there has been an expansion in the number of advanced degrees that lead to less lucrative outcomes. (MFAs, english literature phds etc.). There's also be a massive expansion in MBAs at the lower end in the spectrum.

but at the end of the day, greater supply means prices will fall.

They rent them for you if you want to wear them at graduation or convocation, though you still have to pay a bit each time. At least it's been that way at the two places I've taught since grad school.

OKAY:

so i get back from a little relaxation, did a bit of writing (project specific) over the period...

and i found out that A ROUGH DRAFT OF MY THESIS IS DUE TO MY COMMITTEE TODAY.

and i though i had two more weeks.

wtf, thanks for being explicit with deadlines, shit-ass janky grad school.