tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post1329616542400204641..comments2024-02-28T18:29:41.120-08:00Comments on Not of General Interest: If you're thinking about going to graduate schoolundinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-46990992612720760542008-12-21T09:13:00.000-08:002008-12-21T09:13:00.000-08:00But you do have some other plans, Cero (moving, et...But you do have some other plans, Cero (moving, etc.), so that pressure shouldn't and won't determine what you ultimately do.undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-67266663176950057932008-12-20T15:16:00.000-08:002008-12-20T15:16:00.000-08:00P.S."The thing we lose sight of (and maybe I'm too...P.S.<BR/><BR/>"The thing we lose sight of (and maybe I'm too quick to settle) is that making enough to feed yourself and your family is the important thing."<BR/><BR/>Also interesting. I never expected necessarily to get an academic job ... the market was bad ... so I guess that is why I do not feel betrayed as some people do (although I've been lucky, never adjuncted, have always been employed, even though I've been a major f***up). A lot of people *do* seem to feel betrayed, though.<BR/>That in turn explains why I have always gotten such heavy pressure to STAY in academia ... somehow the logic of all of this bit about how one is owed a job if one gets a PhD leads to the idea that one must be an academic if one has a PhD. <BR/><BR/>?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-19264808472789295352008-12-20T15:08:00.000-08:002008-12-20T15:08:00.000-08:00Market worse in History: yes, it's true. So much f...Market worse in History: yes, it's true. So much for my theory. Honestly, if you can stand doing a lot of teaching to language requirements, the place to be is Spanish. It needs almost as many personnel as English does, and there are fewer qualified people because learning to speak a foreign language is such a natural barrier to degree getting. I don't think I know any unemployed people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-14724229222180458342008-12-17T20:01:00.000-08:002008-12-17T20:01:00.000-08:00Bardiac, I feel bad for the dip years, too, but ev...Bardiac, I feel bad for the dip years, too, but everyone got some kind of job even it it wasn't teaching.<BR/><BR/>The thing we lose sight of (and maybe I'm too quick to settle) is that making enough to feed yourself and your family is the important thing. Yes, I know that's easy to say from a t-t position, but I felt that way when I was looking at alternative careers when I was adjuncting, too. <BR/><BR/>Cero, that sounds like a good strategy, but the history people seem to think that their field is even worse for jobs than English, if that is possible.undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-64458527719343681462008-12-15T12:15:00.000-08:002008-12-15T12:15:00.000-08:00Yet more: what I figured out in my first wee of pr...Yet more: what I figured out in my first wee of professordom: the best fields to go into in grad school are History and the social sciences.<BR/><BR/>NIX English, foreign languages, Comparative Literature, and math, because most jobs involve mostly community college level teaching, and in these fields community college level teaching means imparting basic literacy skills. If that is what you want to do, stop studying at the M.A. level and stay home, or move to an area you love, and teach up a storm.<BR/><BR/>NIX sciences, because unless you get a job at a big big school, you won't be able to do research.<BR/><BR/>BUT: history and the social sciences exist everywhere, and you get to teach in your field of interest from day 1. (Not that history 101 people don't have writing problems, but you do get to talk about history ... whereas in foreign languages the lit courses don't start until junior year sometimes.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-44595164552287789012008-12-12T13:15:00.000-08:002008-12-12T13:15:00.000-08:00Bardiac - yes. I found seeing the dip comforting. ...Bardiac - yes. I found seeing the dip comforting. So *that* was why I never got a job I actually liked, I thought.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-85875133350988445952008-12-10T06:28:00.000-08:002008-12-10T06:28:00.000-08:00I have to say, seeing the dip for the years I was ...I have to say, seeing the dip for the years I was looking for a job makes me even sadder for the folks I went to school with who didn't get academic jobs. Totally out of our control or knowledge how things would work out.<BR/><BR/>I feel sick again.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-87948308902179701212008-12-08T11:14:00.000-08:002008-12-08T11:14:00.000-08:00I just lost a whole well explained comment, but it...I just lost a whole well explained comment, but it was essentially advice to consider more than one field, too.<BR/><BR/>I went into the field I had studied at the BA level, forgetting that my strongest interests were actually in an allied field. <BR/><BR/>I forgot this because at the time of applying I was aware I needed to look as competitive as possible, so I stayed where I was best prepared, where it wouldn't be a reach for an admissions committee to say "yes you can."<BR/><BR/>In retrospect I realize I was also competitive for the other field ... I just plumb forgot about it in the flurry of applying in the field I applied in. <BR/><BR/>Typical for a 20 year old undergraduate studying on the quarter system: immediate goals loom, and long term ones fly out the window.<BR/><BR/>Ergo: people need to be reminded, told, informed, asked, etc.Professor Zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909063513731044826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-5192095705506578372008-12-07T20:58:00.000-08:002008-12-07T20:58:00.000-08:00Bittersweet Girl, that's a good question, too....Bittersweet Girl, that's a good question, too. About the finances issue: my aunt, twenty years ago, made more as a high school teacher than I am making today--not adjusted dollars or anything, just a larger annual salary than I am currently making. I think that people see the "average" professor salaries, which include the business & STEM people making about 3x what the humanities people are making, and assume that we are well paid. And I can foresee no time when I can retire, but then again, I can't see a time when I would want to, although that may change.<BR/><BR/>Professor Zero, I agree about the alternate careers, although with every passing year, those options get more limited. When you're 21 or 22, you think your time to decide about everything is unlimited (or I did). You're still thinking about those alternatives, though, which is healthy.undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-43958110812772683662008-12-07T19:41:00.000-08:002008-12-07T19:41:00.000-08:00The finances are also the main issue for me.But to...The finances are also the main issue for me.<BR/><BR/>But to add to the list/thoughts:<BR/><BR/>* My goal during the MA program was to decide whether I wanted to do the PhD. I decided yes on an impulse, basically, but was glad I had.<BR/><BR/>During the PhD program, before the exams and all, my goal was to do cultural research and writing for UNESCO. There wasn't a lot of time / opportunities at hand to get very far in my investigation of this, though, and then I got busy / caught up in the MLA suddenly, and then ... here I am.<BR/><BR/>Moral: people should make real time every term to seriously investigate alternative careers. <BR/><BR/>* The one thing I was not told in graduate school and wish I had been is that there are really huge differences between types of institutions. Did I want to work for a private institution? No, but I didn't know enough about what these were to know I was massively committed to public education. Did I want to work at a non-great institution? Sure, if necessary, but only in a great town ... yet I did not have enough info to know the terms of that tradeoff, either. <BR/><BR/>* IMPORTANT: I was willing to live "anywhere" but I did not know what that meant. I thought "anywhere" meant, for instance, a university town with snow on it. I said, "sure, I'll shovel snow," and I was right, I like that. I was not imagining places without bookstores, though.<BR/><BR/>* Finally: I was convinced there had to be PhD programs in my disciplines at my school. I still say that is ideal but much more important is whether there are good programs at *any* level in your discipline, and PhD programs in related disciplines.<BR/><BR/>* Finally-finally: when I was younger I thought there were good institutions (i.e. those really good for me) and the rest. I imagined that if one were in a "good" one, any good one would do, and that if one were in one of the rest, it also did not matter which (one is supposed to be willing to go anywhere, right?). <BR/><BR/>In fact, though, you have to be *especially* discerning about the "rest," if you find yourself choosing among several places which are non ideal for you. They are all different and there is great variety in terms of quality as well. I have blown off a couple of opportunities because I did not realize then how good they actually were.Professor Zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909063513731044826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-40361318495064360702008-12-07T17:38:00.000-08:002008-12-07T17:38:00.000-08:00Ah, such a rational approach to this vexing issue....Ah, such a rational approach to this vexing issue. I appreciate your level-headedness; I'm usually incapable of restraining my bitterness about academe long enough to think rationally about this topic. But, I guess I would add this to your list of questions:<BR/><BR/>Are you willing to make significantly less money than your less-educated friends and to work well past the standard retirement age?<BR/><BR/>Although there are many, many things I love about my job, it's the finances that make me think that, had I a chance to do it over again, I wouldn't.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com