Comments | academics_anon: time and getting degrees

ontheseams in academics_anon

time and getting degrees

Feb 12, 2007 01:03

Will it look bad on my resume/be detrimental if I decide to pursue a career in academia if I take a relatively long time to get my degree ( Read more... )

grad-student-life

Comments 18

(The comment has been removed)

aiwanakademie February 12 2007, 00:15:53 UTC

I am actually not an American student, but yes, there were quite a few Americans studying there. I was there on a research fellowship.

aiwanakademie February 12 2007, 00:14:51 UTC

I cant really respond to your questions, but I just wanted to ask where you are studying in Germany? I am originally from Bad Hersfeld and spent a year at Heidelberg between my BA and MA.

ontheseams February 12 2007, 00:15:09 UTC

I'm originally from the Netherlands and I'm in Cologne. For some reason a lot of American students seem to come to Heidelberg; I haven't been there yet.

aiwanakademie February 12 2007, 00:16:30 UTC

What are you studying?

ontheseams February 12 2007, 00:16:55 UTC

*points to entry* English and German.

Thread 7

st_crispins February 12 2007, 00:24:09 UTC

It took me almost 9 years to get my Ph.D. That was because I had (unexpectedly) a child and he had disabilities.

If you can explain why it took longer than expected, people generally understand.

ontheseams February 12 2007, 00:25:37 UTC

Yeah, but it's different if life puts things in your way. I don't know whether I can justify it on account of "extracurricular activites" when there are plenty of people who manage to juggle that and cramming big-time.

mtb0001 February 12 2007, 03:29:36 UTC

I was told it looks better to be in school for ages than to graduate and then have a gap before getting your first job.

princessdiablo February 12 2007, 04:24:44 UTC

I was just on a hiring committee and this logic was plain to see. We didn't look at how long it took them to get their PhDs, but the PhD/job gap was noticed.

so long as you're making progress... jjr1993p2 February 12 2007, 05:36:13 UTC

Hi, my name is John, and I, too, am a recovering Academic.

I'd say so long as you're making progress to your degree, and staying academically active...e.g. publishing, going to conferences, TEACHING, etc, you should be ok. Don't just spend all your time taking classes, etc. If you want to become a professor, you have to start *acting* like one while still in grad school. And don't just attend conferences, but PRESENT there. (this advice makes me into one big hypocrite, but it's because I wished I'd learned these lessons myself back when)

I agree that graduating then having a gap probably makes it harder to re-integrate back into academe. Humanities PhDs just plain take longer anyway--and that's ok.