Don't Go to Grad School

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so...has anything changed?

 

[erictheobscure]

Yeah, everything's gotten even more fucked for the humanities in the last five years.

 

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Have the baby boomers not retired? More fucked as in beyond less jobs and more PHDs?

 

[Gibonius]



Yeah, everything's gotten even more fucked for the humanities in the last five years.

You got that sweet sweet tenure all locked up already?

Have the baby boomers not retired? More fucked as in beyond less jobs and more PHDs?

The whole "wait for the Boomers to retire" thing have been going on for 20 odd years now. Universities are largely getting rid of tenured research positions, especially in the humanities. It's rough even in STEM.

And there are an absolute **** ton of applicants. People keep getting PhD's, even knowing the job market sucks. People are bad at applying statistics to themselves, apparently.

 

[erictheobscure]



You got that sweet sweet tenure all locked up already?

 

[Gibonius]



My gutless weasel admin took a pass on everyone that was up this year, citing the election. I got bumped back onto the carousel for another two years, which is uhhhh....nervous, given the climate. And especially considering I do a decent amount of work about climate.

 

[Concordia]

And, of all things, I am thinking of finding a place where I can push beyond my master's thesis. [Graduation next week---yay!]

Given, however, that the good US programs are (a) paranoid about rankings (I.e., how many young bodies they can shove into academia), (b) jealous about how they dole out a finite number of scholarships, and (c) insistent on the need to get yet another master's degree before seven years of indentured servitude, I'll probably be aiming for someplace in the U.K. Not so comprehensive a training regime, to be sure, but a lower opportunity cost when the short program[me] duration is weighed vs the fee schedule. Since I am almost certainly too old to be interesting to tenure-track committees, these are options I will have to live with.

 

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Would it make a difference if the candidate knows a second language and can apply for more jobs overseas? Does the area of focus matter? Something "hot" vs. something more specialized? And what would be a realistic cutoff in terms of ranking for deciding if it's worth it? Top 15-20 worldwide? Assuming Classics or Philosophy.

Are creative writing MFAs less of a scam if they're funded?

 

[erictheobscure]



My gutless weasel admin took a pass on everyone that was up this year, citing the election. I got bumped back onto the carousel for another two years, which is uhhhh....nervous, given the climate. And especially considering I do a decent amount of work about climate.

Good luck man.

Would it make a difference if the candidate knows a second language and can apply for more jobs overseas? Does the area of focus matter? Something "hot" vs. something more specialized? And what would be a realistic cutoff in terms of ranking for deciding if it's worth it? Top 15-20 worldwide? Assuming Classics or Philosophy.

Are creative writing MFAs less of a scam if they're funded?

Are you asking for yourself or just out of curiosity? Because if you're asking for yourself, I'll just be blunt about it: you don't have a field (classics or philosophy or creative writing) and you're asking some basic questions on a men's fashion forum. If you're concerned at all about actually having employment some day, grad school isn't really for exploring or dabbling in a field. You already have to be prepared to specialized to know what you're doing as you start.

FWIW, MFAs aren't a scam if they're funded. They're often funded fairly well. You'll just be scrapping to make a living afterwards. And tenure-track jobs are really rare for MFAs unless you've already made a name for yourself. Yeah, there are jobs overseas; they range widely in desirability.

 

[papa kot]

I am grad school studying humanities. The degree adds nicely to my STEM background and I have taken no debt to pay for it. Thus, I do not necessarily agree with the OP's headline, but I see a fraction of truth in the statement that started this thread.

 

[Gibonius]



I am grad school studying humanities. The degree adds nicely to my STEM background and I have taken no debt to pay for it. Thus, I do not necessarily agree with the OP's headline, but I see a fraction of truth in the statement that started this thread. 

You probably need to graduate and get a job before deciding whether it was a good idea or not.

 

[papa kot]

You probably need to graduate and get a job before deciding whether it was a good idea or not.

I've been out of school for quite a while. Honestly, my policy is to refresh education on an on-going basis. I might as well get a paper that says "I have done it."

 

[manonwire]

Go and study something weird and fun instead, like contemporary circus and physical performance at Bath Spa University. To hell with the boring MBA, EMBA or permanent hard dick aka PHD courses.

http://www.domainofexperts.com/2014/07/11-most-unusual-university-degrees.html

 

[troika]

As someone currently applying to grad schools, this thread is thoroughly disheartening

 

[erictheobscure]

As someone who is applying to grad school, you should stop using dangling modifiers.