tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post6522018797334438601..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: Archie here, with the latest Crampicle HyperboleUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-77510235413264152232011-10-03T18:22:34.951-04:002011-10-03T18:22:34.951-04:00I stand corrected.I stand corrected.Rosencrantz Andor Guildensternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095512139776536635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-62220306297248311282011-10-02T20:44:50.793-04:002011-10-02T20:44:50.793-04:00@WW Thanks man. You are still the craaazzzzziest, ...@WW Thanks man. You are still the craaazzzzziest, but I do my level best. And, yes, I was thinking of you when I typed "Crampicle" into the little "post box."<br /><br />@Rosencrantz: It is most definitely Ron Jeremy. Back in the old RYS days, Calico asked me who I wanted to be my avatar, and I said, "I get to choose? Then gimme Ron Fucking Jeremy Please." And then Angry Archiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07348431132289025339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-57435964335566164502011-10-02T09:24:15.703-04:002011-10-02T09:24:15.703-04:00I think you choose a graduate program by visiting ...I think you choose a graduate program by visiting each one, looking at placement rates and places, and speaking personally with the grad advisor and any faculty members with whom you hope to work (and be sure there are 6 or 7 who fit that category -- not as dissertation directors, necessarily, but as potential committee members). Also speak to as many current students and recent alums as you can.Frog and Toadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377542172335502858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-30187489480315264122011-10-02T05:46:29.738-04:002011-10-02T05:46:29.738-04:00@Academic Monkey and Merely Academic: Yes, grad s...@Academic Monkey and Merely Academic: Yes, grad students can't rely on their programs and advisors for adequate mentoring. My experience* parallels yours in some ways. <br /><br />@Everyone: So without a book or a hired consultant, how IS a grad school applicant to learn about how to choose a program? Maybe this should be a separate thread; but since it's been alluded to here, it seems Eskarinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14854383335265386899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-9926600261283369452011-10-01T10:55:54.629-04:002011-10-01T10:55:54.629-04:00Hey, I think what Dr. Karen is is doing is great! ...Hey, I think what Dr. Karen is is doing is great! And yes, I do my best to advise my students, even to the point of giving all my incoming grad students copies of "A Ph.D. is Not Enough," by Peter Feibelman, and warning them in so many works that the job situation in astronomy is highly competitive, or in plainer language stinks, but I will help them all I can if they're willing to Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-80605183857454908812011-10-01T10:49:39.072-04:002011-10-01T10:49:39.072-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-23332829095795186002011-10-01T10:48:25.504-04:002011-10-01T10:48:25.504-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-81794328038794750842011-09-30T19:36:38.711-04:002011-09-30T19:36:38.711-04:00Professor Piers sounds like a "wrecker";...Professor Piers sounds like a "wrecker"; he should be told he was lucky to avoid the firing squads of 1936.<br /><br />All I can say about Prof. Undergrad-Addict is "Goddamn...Goddamn the advisor man!" (apologies to Steppenwolf.)Strelnikovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12660962615198939441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-69395451019786539852011-09-30T15:39:52.563-04:002011-09-30T15:39:52.563-04:00I love that there is the suggestion that I change ...I love that there is the suggestion that I change committees. As though the three I got weren't carefully considered.<br /><br />I want to tell you the other profs I had to choose from in this very well-respected community.<br /><br />Careless Cate and her gang of Cronies, who were about 10 professors that only advised each other's students and set up other people's students for Academic Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07086078244493768565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-62546190727704151922011-09-30T15:21:02.542-04:002011-09-30T15:21:02.542-04:00I was recommended to my department by someone I tr...I was recommended to my department by someone I trusted and who is a big name. Then all the folks she recommended the place for left before I finished my degree. AWESOME.<br /><br />We were left with two warring sides of the department. You picked group A, or you picked group B. Whichever side you picked, you were stuck with. In fact, if you picked group A (who more matched my research interests)My Little Proffiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14843685528001871813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-23715719629498569212011-09-30T15:02:14.490-04:002011-09-30T15:02:14.490-04:00I think blaming the victim for not changing commit...I think blaming the victim for not changing committees, which is not always possible for political reasons as well as field reasons (sure, there are 30 people in your English department, but only 3 of them are medievalists, and they're all already on your committee. For example) is not useful. Nor is blaming the victim for being stupid enough to go to a department without adequate grad Merely Academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00452389428113097744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-4399922952599106032011-09-30T14:53:28.176-04:002011-09-30T14:53:28.176-04:00We were also getting unrealistic and/or outdated a...We were also getting unrealistic and/or outdated advice (don't try to publish before you finish the diss.; go on the market even if you've finished only one chapter) based on some combination of faculty members' long-ago experiences (which included getting jobs without finished dissertations, and, in some cases, tenure in Ivy League humanities departments on the basis of a few Contingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-91911230802642144482011-09-30T14:53:08.226-04:002011-09-30T14:53:08.226-04:00I tend to agree with those in the comment thread o...I tend to agree with those in the comment thread over at the Chronicle who have said that she makes a good case for her business existing beside, not as a substitute for, traditional advising. But she wouldn't get a free advertisement in the Chronicle in the middle of job season if she just said "look what useful things I do!"; she had to couch it as a critique of the academy. <brContingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-7369625357993586672011-09-30T13:51:06.450-04:002011-09-30T13:51:06.450-04:00By the way - I always thought Archie's avatar ...By the way - I always thought Archie's avatar was Gene Simmons.Rosencrantz Andor Guildensternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095512139776536635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-62011379638284899902011-09-30T13:48:07.303-04:002011-09-30T13:48:07.303-04:00At the same time that the Crampicle article went u...At the same time that the Crampicle article went up, there was an interesting documentary on the telly up here in Canuckistan. It was carried by the Propaganda Arm of the Pan Canadian All People's Socialist Utopian Committee (the CBC), called "The Trouble with Experts". <br /><br />The trouble with experts, it turns out, is that most of the people who claim to be experts don't Rosencrantz Andor Guildensternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095512139776536635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-53831695083025540472011-09-30T13:12:49.884-04:002011-09-30T13:12:49.884-04:00Oh my God. This is that same idiot that wrote the...Oh my God. This is that same idiot that wrote the guest post on that other idiot's blog..."The Worst Professor Ever". Both of them left academia because they were too good for it and now apparently spend a lot of their time burning bridges. The worst professor ever apparently left her job because she was too pretty. The particular idiot in question here left it because she didn&#StellafromSparksburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17584701718285662953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-37589160857240093642011-09-30T13:04:13.027-04:002011-09-30T13:04:13.027-04:00Thanks AA - I was going to post that, in fact brie...Thanks AA - I was going to post that, in fact briefly did but managed to hash it up (never try to post from an iPod). My reaction however was "geez, good idea, I'll refer my students". I don't know half of what this consultant knows; if I did I'd tell my students. I'm not particularly well connected myself and the best I can do is refer my students to people who are.Merely Academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00452389428113097744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-60390379215596027022011-09-30T13:01:42.478-04:002011-09-30T13:01:42.478-04:00AM, there's this little form called a Change o...AM, there's this little form called a Change of Committee form we have over here. Sounds like you should have filled it out.<br /><br />There are also other faculty members, and in most places, either a Grad Advisor or a Placement Advisor. If you go into a dept. without ensuring beforehand that there is decent mentorship, formalized in one or both of these positions, you are making a very Frog and Toadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377542172335502858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-62807856446093442132011-09-30T11:42:31.780-04:002011-09-30T11:42:31.780-04:00@Academic Monkey
Yep, me too. The best help I got...@Academic Monkey <br />Yep, me too. The best help I got was from profs at other schools. In some ways, I'm happy I had to look outside my institution, because that networking was invaluable. I'm doing a lot better than the folks that didn't have to. On the other hand, I never should have had to. <br /><br />BUT I would not recommend that students in a similar position seek out a My Little Proffiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14843685528001871813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-48451452378411127912011-09-30T11:20:56.595-04:002011-09-30T11:20:56.595-04:00OH MY GOD I WISH I HAD THIS SERVICE 8 YEARS AGO.
...OH MY GOD I WISH I HAD THIS SERVICE 8 YEARS AGO.<br /><br />When I was a grad student, my primary adviser was 6 years away from early retirement. He decided to wait those six years in silence, playing games like Civ IV. He never said anything about research, teaching methods, publication process, conference organizing, spreading out my CV, etc.<br /><br />My secondary adviser was (and is) an Academic Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07086078244493768565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-85676305889874990842011-09-30T11:10:13.116-04:002011-09-30T11:10:13.116-04:00I think I'll leave my ivory tower, with its le...I think I'll leave my ivory tower, with its leaky roof and dry rot, and open a consulting business. My target clientele will be people who want to open their own consulting businesses, because Karen Kelsky hasn't done her damned job and taught her clients how to milk other people for big bucks per hour teaching other poor saps valuable life skills like elevator talks...and what to do if aAnnie Oakleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02396950355961607377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-89530268092173856582011-09-30T11:03:07.679-04:002011-09-30T11:03:07.679-04:00I must say, with Frod chiming in this week and a r...I must say, with Frod chiming in this week and a rare sighting of Walter, it's like old home week.<br /><br />Howdy fellas!Compound Calicohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00059155949950433688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-10404065716721405512011-09-30T10:55:11.166-04:002011-09-30T10:55:11.166-04:00Archie, I've always said good things about you...Archie, I've always said good things about you. (You could look it up if the old RYS site isn't just a big cobweb factory of Google ads and badly made nicknames. Of course I made my own.)<br /><br />I am writing today because I was so pleased to see you've picked up on my locution for the Chronicle, used by me first back in September of '08 -- <a href="http://Wicked Walter from Waxahachiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12029251619387101553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-87282867930399302222011-09-30T10:18:17.658-04:002011-09-30T10:18:17.658-04:00Harpy:
Don't even get me started on the "...Harpy:<br />Don't even get me started on the "consultants". We've had consultants redesign our web page, look for various important admin posts, try to organize our fundraising... and each time we end up worse and poorer than when we started.Three Sigmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822893039310439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-73047460808896520962011-09-30T09:09:27.517-04:002011-09-30T09:09:27.517-04:00I do all the shit she does for free, and better.I do all the shit she does for free, and better.Frog and Toadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377542172335502858noreply@blogger.com