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

never having run a humanities department at a prestigious american university this is rather speculative but i'd guess a lot of them are loathe to think that their phd graduates couldn't even get a job at the university of cowfuck or whatever

getting a job at the university of cowfuck is fucking hard even for Princeton grads

I quit my PhD, btw. Seeing as academia was the only thing I ever displayed any aptitude for, I can now look forward to doing precisely nothing with the rest of my pitiful existence.

well yes, but i daresay they would rather not dwell on that xp

at my gf's prestigious american university the profs just don't mention the phd graduates

they just become non-people unless they make it big

why did you quit, Emily? Being in a similar field I'm kind of assuming a life of precisely nothing when I finish, whether that's avec PhD or not.

Mental health problems. Mostly depression, but agoraphobia-tinged anxiety doesn't really help when yr campus is 4 hours away by train. *sigh*

sorry emil.y that sucks (i mean, obv it sucks)

yeah, i'm sorry to hear that. have you thought about (or are you already) pursuing your academic interests in non-academic settings (blogs, independent publishing etc.)?

:(

I'm not really doing anything at the moment except being sad. I'm not motivated or confident enough at the moment to consider blogging, and I literally have not a clue how people enter independent publishing. People seem to just do things like that - where do they work out how? Who taught them these things? What lesson did I miss?

^^ feeling this as of late

why did you quit, Emily? Being in a similar field I'm kind of assuming a life of precisely nothing when I finish, whether that's avec PhD or not.

― Shane Richie Junior (Merdeyeux), Friday, 7 December 2012 02:03 (38 minutes ago)

this is disheartening....do you really not think you can settle into academia after getting a phd? nb i don't really know that much about academic job market in the uk either

I'm probably in a slightly better position than most continental philosophy people tbh, in that with my area of research I could slide into cultural studies and that general milieu if work doesn't turn up in the five or so philosophy departments in the country that could conceivably want me. It seems that graduates in the last few years generally hover around picking up classes to teach here and there, which when you take preparation time into consideration probably works out as working for less than minimum wage. Also I've kinda found that I'm too anxiety-ridden to be a decent teacher, but being a bad teacher never got in the way of academic success eh.

The kinds of minutiae of networking skills that open up those opportunities are a bit of a mystery to me too, Emily. Nowadays having a Blog Presence appears to be a good route into the inner circles, though of course the easiest way to have a Blog Presence is to be a cliquey dick. But I dunno. There are good people doing good things. It can't be impossible!

american humanities departments are some of the most class-riddled messes in the country. family and connections grease advancement among champagne socialists in ways they'd rather not admit to themselves

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdrvmcLVu71qz74s5o1_500.jpg

I had to cancel grad school for another year. Being kicked out of my dad's house is expensive, so is fixing it up to please the city, who never cracked an architecture book in their self-righteous life.

It's sad, I was doing that academic work for my community, but it's clear from the complaints about the house that historic homes aren't that important to them.

When I do get to go to graduate school, I'll take my skills to another community. One where the leadership appreciates college and how hard it is.

End of the semeeeeeester, just one paper to go. Only one course next semester (was three for the current one), which means a ton of lab work, but at least I can get stuck in.

Also, I meant to say last week, I'm sorry about your situation, emil.y, and I hope that your uni was supporting you in any way it could (and maybe would again if things changed for you). I don't see my uni doing much for my housemate who is dealing with trying to stabilise mental health problems.

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

Thanks, ljub. I didn't get very much support from my institution, but that was at least partially due to the fact of it being so far away - I couldn't get there to access any potential support networks because I was already too in need of support. And while I really liked my supervisor, he was terribly scatty and not always the best at replying when I did approach him with stuff I needed help with. Oh well, it's done now. *sigh*

i'm sorry for what happened to you e.mily. i have to say, this thread and other articles i have read make me terrified about applying to grad school in the humanities (literature). i love literature and even theory but i just don't know if i would be able to "cut it" at a prestigious program. i am not a competitive person and the amount of strategic positioning that seems necessary to get an academic job seems daunting, especially with how the market seems to be. idk why i posted here - i know i have to figure out whether to apply or not on my own - but i guess i just wanted to put my story out there, to see if anyone is in the same boat as me (terrified of applying but still somewhat loyal to my younger self who thought it was his destiny to become an english professor).

I am giving up on the whole "artistic" thing...I visited a department and it was too discouraging. They showed me work by really smart and "special" people and said, "do you have the talent, you haven't done this work in years!" I said I spent years preparing and studying and I thought I was perfect for that line of work.

I think I'll just do time in a furniture store or something or learn real estate. I mean I worked really hard and did all of that reading, but at the end of the day, you're just a number and putting together a portfolio takes a lot of time that I no longer have, plus my desktop broke....

i'm helping my friend who's prof asked her to write her own recommendation letter, any tips?

Find a better referee.

There is what seems to be some good advice here: http://theprofessorisin.com/2012/09/07/how-to-write-a-recommendation-letter/

Writing recs is as much a professorial duty as teaching classes imo; shame on those who do not consider it so. That said, a savvy rec-sender can set it all up (via a brief statement of purpose, well-done resume, and some bullet points to help make the recommender's job easy) for a lazy prof.

she was only asked to write it because she asked for the rec so close to the deadline, the prof will still see it & sculpt the final draft. thanks for the link ljubljana

On a scale of 1-10, how inappropriate is it for a professor to ask a lab manger (who is 22 with a undergrad degree) to rate applications to the PhD program?

Mostly depends on whether the prof is using the lab manager to filter out some of the applications, or as a second opinion on applications that the prof also examines and judges independently. If the latter case, it is merely unorthodox, if the former, then the prof is unforgivably lazy. Those applications represent a huge investment of effort.

Former case.

I am with you on this one but am trying not to overreact.

It gives me the idea that prof views grad students as a generic commodity and an essentially uninteresting one at that. I don't envy anyone he accepts.

Yeah someone who hasn't done at least a few years of a PhD shouldn't be let anywhere near applications imo.

xp - She. And your statement is somewhat accurate in relation to this particular person.

I second all of these sentiments.

Also, I got accepted to Boston U's distance ed program yesterday. Will hang on to hear back from the other school to which I applied (U of MD), but unless they offer tons o' financial aid, BU it shall be. I'd start in May!

Brilliant news, Q, nice one!

Thanks! It has been such a loooooong time since I've been a student, and my last graduate program was a very different beast (basic science degree; all of my time in lab and very little in any sort of traditional class). I also have zero experience with online classes. It will be a totally new world, but I'm really looking forward to it!

To answer your original question, ljubljana, about an 8.5.

Yeah :-( I'd gone for 8.

F*ck, more exhausting shit. There are much worse supervisors than this, so I feel like a wimp for feeling at the end of my tether. Dying to vent (boring) details, maybe I should start a grad school 77 thread.

for gossip purposes i really want to know who your supervisor is even though its probably not anyone i have ever met or will ever meet

I will totally post on a wtf grad school thread on 77. Haven't started yet (still waiting to hear back from one of the two MSW programs to which I applied), but I have done this grad school think before and know I will need some wtf venting.

Created. Apologies for the boringness of my opening rant! Objectively it is really not so bad. I have a problem with disproportionate anger towards people I consider rude and disrespectful.

I'm about to pay tuition for next quarter's class after just finishing up THEE WORST QUARTER IN THEE WORST CLASS I've ever taken, which has prompted me to question whether I even want to keep going on in this program in favor of yet ANOTHER career change. UGH WHY CAN'T LIFE BE AN RPG.

And oh yeah the class I'm signing up for is 7:10AM, wtf.

^^^^that is so many levels of wrong I can't even get my head around it

http://christianityandvirtue.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/a-day-in-the-life-of-phd-in-theology/

i have no idea where to put this but i feel it needs to be shared.

people who show us how to live etc etc