Friday, January 14, 2011

But if you don't go to grad school . . .

the wonderful College Misery blog might not be relevant to your life. Does that one reason to go to grad school outweigh the 100 Reasons Not to Go to Grad School?

I'm starting to wonder if this whole let-me-publish-an-article-(or blog)-about-why-you-shouldn't-go-to-graduate-school thing has run its course.

6 comments:

  1. It hasn't run its course until the floods lessen. Sure, we've seen the figures, the idiocy of all it, etc, but every year there are pink-cheeked Seniors all aglow at their new application letters. They're already picking out their tweed jackets.

    I think it's similar to growing up and understanding what race is, or that words have no physical meaning, or that bacteria will evolve before your eyes. It blows Freshmen minds so it has to be said, even though the rest of us have seen it too many times to count.

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  2. Everyone screams, and no one listens. Tried to talk a student out of applying to a 3rd tier law school. I told her there would be no jobs. She seemed to think there would be a job for her.

    That's what everyone thinks, and everyone is wrong.

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  3. Grad school has become many younger peoples' way of "escaping" the cruddy job market. It's a delaying tactic that is pretty costly, but they're thinking in the NOW and not the LATER.

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  4. I guess I'm in the minority here. I loved graduate school and I love my job. (And it's not a fancy job.) I think the job market is tough but not impossible. I know more people who have jobs than those who don't. And overall I think that professors have pretty great lifestyles. There are drawbacks to this career (which is why I love this site.) But there are drawbacks to every career. I certainly make sure students know what gradaute school and the academic life is like.....but I would never discourage anyone from going to grad school. Why would I want to deny my students a career/education that has brought me happiness and satisfaction?

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  5. The basis for much of this seems to be from the perspective of the liberal arts, and from the premise that the only proper use of a graduate degree is to serve in a tenure track academic position.

    One can do much in industry with graduate credentials, and while the basic utility of the PhD in industry is debatable, there are many roles in which a doctorate is essential.

    There does appear to be a glut in academe for certain areas, even at the upper strata of programs.

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  6. "Tried to talk a student out of applying to a 3rd tier law school. I told her there would be no jobs. She seemed to think there would be a job for her."

    Who knows, maybe there will be a job for her, maybe she's 'the chosen one'.

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