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

I didn't quit my course after all. I even flaked on quitting. Anyway, I've done it now and God I feel fucking apathetic about it. At least my final project was a nifty bit of radio.

Folks, say no to grad-school. You'll be destitute and completely unfulfilled by the end of it.

Now to get rejected from every job ever for being 'overqualified'

does an lj has a qualification is what i want to know?

well I might need to retake Media Law, is a thing

but other than that I ought to have a Pass in MA Science Journalism

go fucking me

hearty congrats. you'll get over your apathy with distance, i hope. it's not an ideal time for anyone to be graduating, but that's not necessarily a reflection on the course you chose

good work I say. As soon as I 1. get rejected for PhD funding, and 2. finish my Masters (yeah in that order) I'll join you on the overqualified-for-every-job-ever train.

I mean 'overqualified'.

the sad thing is I'm not qualified for fucking anything - I have an English Lit degree and a Journalism degree. I don't have any applicable skill except 'blagging it'

fuck

wait did you finish the science journalism thing then?

i opted for business instead of english or physics to avoid the same fate. srsly, no difference- at least you got to study some interesting shit.

xpost - that I did - as with my Eng Lit degree, the only thing of worth I did was my final project/dissertation. this time it was on the subject of Britain's fluctuating bird populations - what might be causing declines and shifts, a sort of state-of-the-nation report and quite a comprehensive one given the 15-minute duration

also lol you made a physics dig in caek's presence THIS WILL END WELL :D

I don't have any applicable skill except 'blagging it'

king of skills in this wacky world, I say.

it wasn't a dig, it was lol @ me for doing a shitty safe degree at a local second rate institute

ok but watch it, i am figuring out important stuff about how much iron there is in the stars in a galaxy 100 million light years away that we will never visit, this is important stuff. all these assholes wasting their time on blocking oil wells, drinking water, bringing up children, etc.

how much iron is there? a lot or a little?

tbh if man stopped wondering how the universe worked we might as well push the red button now

is how I break it down to an extent

xxp jeez it's a living ain't it? an interesting living, that's maybe tough to tie down to everyday practical stuff, but still kinda noble in a way?

i mean, i do everyday, necessary practical stuff, and it sucks so hard that you could study the vacuum tbh

xxp jeez it's a living ain't it?

tbc :/

see, lj- everything sucks for everyone right now.

ilx commune is becoming an inevitability imo

a job would be nice. perhaps I should look for one. out there in the massive world of jobs.

if you can afford to eat without one, you're better off not bothering tbh

um in all seriousness things are fucking tight, and that's with me at home

as part of graduate degree program 2.0, i am taking my first online class. it costs $400 less than the in-class version of the same syllabus, and i am incredibly frustrated by the "virtual salon" atmosphere. like ILX without the penis jokes.

xp eliminate unnecessary public spending

hey talking about public worth, I'm studying philosophy. What a wanker I am.

Re. jobs I'm in an unpleasant limbo at the moment - my current job ends tomorrow, and in the highly unlikely event that I get funding I'll be starting my PhD at the beginning of October, but I won't know about the funding until August. So any job application I make comes with the proviso "btw I may be fucking off in about five minutes", which probably doesn't go down well. Ah well I'll enjoy the jobseekers and the starvation and the being hung drawn and quartered under our glorious new regime while I can.

i had to turn down a job in new york last week ;_; because (i) couldn't make start date because of these fuckn galaxies and 2000 undergrads wouldn't wait and (ii) it was a lame offer, 21 month contract (i.e. one summer), would have been de facto the end of my academic career. been hustling for that job for ~three years.

man that sucks

ps was 21 months really such a bad offer, in current sitch?

21 months = 3 months for research = no chance of a job at the end of it. still got some irons in some fires, but this year was a bloodbath for astronomy jobs.

well, when the masters of the universe lost control of wall st, it was inevitable tbh

and i'd have to cut short the phd by a significant amount to make the start date (last few months, which is where i am, is when the magic happens) which would make my research cv even feebler. would really have been academic suicide if my goal is to stay in academia (which it is atm). feeling ok. had drifted away from that job for various other reasons, but it's the one i'd been brown-nosing for for time. hopefully they will have another one in a couple of years when it suits me and them better.

xp, that is 100% the reason for the 21 month contract offer btw.

yeha well having to give up phd for it was a non-runner anyway tbf

all going well they'll leave training budgets alone here, so that by the time i make permanency next year they'll pay me to go get a master's in something interesting

in what? what is your job btw?

yeha well having to give up phd for it was a non-runner anyway tbf

you might say is was ~academic~

Yeah, I know a bunch of astronomers here who are despondently eyeing up a shift in discipline or management consultancy.

With a British PhD you really aren't expected to go straight into a teaching position, so *if* you do get a job it's all research, which I guess has benefits.

xp lol clerical staff for lol local authority.

HOLY SHIT I HAVE FUNDING

:D

oyyy just popped me head in here to say that I don't have funding. Balance of the universe and all that. But congrats dude! (No one cry for me yet, I still have another one to hear back from.)

;_;

wow i've been thru a roller coaster of emotions this afternoon.

good luck with the next one merdeyeux

I fucking told you not to cry, but chrz darragh.

what are ya doing, c#?

Nice one c sharp, and it sounds like you're in arts so it's an even bigger achievement.

Keep the faith merdeyeux...on the plus side, coping with repeated rejection is a very useful skill in academia.

and nightclubs

otm

oh, merdeyeux, my commiserations - this morning I got an email from one lot i'd applied to saying 'we can't give you anything, hope you can cover it all yourself!' and was utterly sure that there was no way i could go, that all the time I'd spent preparing and applying and fretting and asking for favours and calculating budgets was just void (my institution requires you prove you have the money for fees and subsistence before you even start). I cried, even! And then I checked my email and-- from a completely unexpected source! So I'll keep my fingers crossed for the one you have yet to hear back from. :)

i am doing premodern japanese history, specifically urban riots in the nineteenth century. they are really cool! some of them feature destroying people's houses by dancing inside them with your shoes on! i spoke to my future-supervisor this afternoon and he was all 'i have a list of sociology texts you need to read': so exciting.

Defended last December, have applied for all sorts of jobs and gotten nowhere: still my own department has given me a few courses to teach next year while tenured staff take sabbaticals - including an MA course, and today I got sent my provisional timetable, and, sad, maybe, but seeing 'Dr. ---- --------' Timetable 2010-11 was a buzz

So basically, you guys, keep doing it if it's what you want.... (and not just because you want to be called 'Dr.')