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

exactly why there is a strong incentive for those schools to not to not publish their placement xp

That's not true in my discipline. Though it's hard to say: a record might look shitty on paper but people drop out or chicken out on the job market for reasons besides departmental weakness. Placement records don't express the desires of their candidates. I know a lot of people who aren't super ambitious & those people are going to drag down placement records on paper, but they're also nothing to fear when considering that department---unless you're worried that department will kill your ambition too.

xp to dayo

i think that job placement depends on the level of specialization, too. for my MFA (highly specialized) the employment statistics were pretty grim, even though the school is renowned and respected in its field. my M.Ed. is from a much lesser university, but it's in a very general field and the 1-year out employment rate is +/- like 90%.

yeah but those peoples' stories can be put in context. they still matter. if anything they reflect the department's judgment. there's no such thing as too much information with a decision like this. xp

I agree, but it's not necessarily a flaw of the department if they have a shitty placement record. The stories matter, as you say. It would be good if there were a way to get those stories to potential students (& obviously there is).

i agree w/ you completely, but i just don't know how these statistics could be normalized –- and it would be really sad if some great specialty programs were marginalized or otherwise saw attendance drops b/c their employment statistics were low. as with the rest of current education reform, i'd be concerned about this turning into a metric for ranking and sorting 'quality' based upon a lot of potentially subjective factors.

I think the number of people we're talking about here is small enough that statistics aren't necessary. we could have this same discussion w/ law school - same general problem, student bodies big enough that 63% means something.

http://physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v64/i9/p8_s2

"Some simple actions can be taken to improve the situation. Scientists being interviewed by the media should require that they be introduced as “physicist John Jones,” and PhD scientists should require that they be addressed as “Dr.” Scientists who provide narratives for TV programs should require that their degree appear on screen in conjunction with their name."

i would pretty much dismiss as a fraud/crank anyone who did this. do people use "Dr" outside work? is this guy just an angry old man? my experience: in the UK basically never except the day you graduate, in germany always outside of work (people love you for it, you get it engraved on your door), and slightly more often at work.

I get Swiss Colony catalogs & other important mass mailings sent to me as Dr because it looks funny. Though if they have an option on the webpage for Sheik I usually pick that instead.

yeah, adding 'Dr' in that sense just makes me think of people writing books on how to improve your life in five easy steps and such.

the worst is adding dr and phd.

dr. phdl

i would one day like to be the only asshole in the entire field of the humanities who has all of their qualifications as part of their name at all times.

oh if I can add a suffix on web forms then I usually add something indicating that I'm a nun or a dentist, in addition to a sheik.

bet the post loves me, Ph.D.

interesting about germany. when my dad lived in holland official institutions addressed his mail as 'Rt Hon' Mr Mc.

ph. tl;dr

It's a bit of a weird rant, but he makes a couple of good points. Like caek mentioned, in Germany it's a lot more normal to show off your doctorate outside of work, so it's not like the writer's suggestions are all that crazy, it's more of an indictment of US/Can/UK attitudes toward Ph.D.'s.

thinkin baout this

http://iat.ubalt.edu/IDIA/

also thinkin baout this

http://www.id.iit.edu/prospective-students/programs-and-applications/master-design-mba/

I would try and get in contact w/ people in the programs and see what the job placement is like

first one has a pretty heft price tag, eh?

word is that the ubalt program has a ridiculously high job placement percentage, people at this meetup i went to the other night were bandying around phrases like "near 100%"

first one has a pretty heft price tag, eh?

― iatee, Wednesday, September 14, 2011 5:18 PM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark

second one much more so tbh!

lol that they have a "hypermedia proficiency exam" imo

ha I was looking for it and couldn't find it.

I would look some recent grads up on linkedin/facebook and get a first-hand perspective. 'near 100%' can be very misleading w/ these type of things.

oops I was looking at the 2nd one's price

yeah iit's price is................prohibitive

exploitative

ot$

do people here subscribe to the chronicle of he? i feel like i read enough articles for it to be "worth it" and part of faking it until i make it.

lol that they have a "hypermedia proficiency exam" imo

fucking hell

not having a good day of it generally but

it's actually p sensible when you look at it, it's just

how's your t going?

im actually crushing it so hard right now

but also having to face up to the fact that i cannot now function in society

lol rip

good luck

maybe do a couple of mfas next?

the world needs writers

my employment record says otherwise

last week i discovered i no longer had an office :/

do not think i am currently 'crushing it'

hoos i would... be hesitant... to do either of those programs w/o a v clear picture of what you want to get out of them

I don't read the Chronicle; it never occurs to me to do so. Occasionally a colleague will forward a snippet but o/w it doesn't seem to bear on my day-to-day or long-term plans. That being said, it might be interesting to start reading it! Maybe I will have a look.

for no particular reason, here's Euler's handy guide to whether you're gonna get a tenure-track job, in order of importance:
1) your advisor thinks you're "The One", or at least one of "The Ones" (if you don't understand this, then no, your advisor doesn't think this, so never mind)
2) you have a really extraordinary idea or result that has people other than your advisor *really* excited, & ready to write / work the phones / chat up buds on your behalf
3) you stand out for personal / cultural reasons in a way that is going to benefit an institution, e.g. affirmative-action or religious reasons

Otherwise I'd keep the CV polished for industry jobs.

This is all based on years of actually getting jobs & serving on search committees. My experience is only with research universities, fwiw.

lol i'm fucked

the # of tenure track positions to phds ratio varies widely by the field tho

im The One

euler otm if you want a job at a research 1 institution, but i hope not otm if you want a job at a PUI/liberal arts place, which is what i'm aiming at.

pua/liberal arts school

for a liberal arts college 2) doesn't matter as much, but 1) can still break the game open---being "The One" can vary here, though: it's not *just* about research prowess, but maybe "the whole package". It's good to have a teaching award on the CV.

I think personal connections matter a lot for those smaller jobs, though. maybe pedigree too: everyone likes a famous sounding school name on their webpage.

i think my research is going reasonably well, just not all the quickly. ive never been aiming for a tenure track position tho and ive already had calls from interesting/'relevant' ngos about my work so im p secure there, its just making it through the next few years