Saying no
There's a discussion going on over at BitchPhd about whether or not to go on to get a Ph.D. in the humanities.
The gyst is, don't do it. There are no jobs out there for you, and you will waste your 20s to end up in a rut and have no place to go.
The author of the post in question is on the market after having completed an (I think) English Lit PhD, and prospects are grim. The comments have been pretty interesting though, so I encourage you to read the whole discussion.
What I find interesting is that I have seen the exact same discussion happen with lawyers. Sure, the job prospects are not nearly as grim out of law school, but I've heard lawyers over and over again say "Don't do it" to those who would follow in their paths. Hell, I've said it.
I think the similarity is that there's an expectation of "success," however that is defined, in pursuing both tracks. People who go on to get PhDs, like people who go on to get JDs, are smart and have been pretty successful in academia prior to deciding to move on. Many prospective JDs, though, in my experience are often unsure of what they really want to do. I was unusual in my class, I think, in that I knew that I wanted to be a health lawyer. I focused my applications on law schools that were well regarded in health law, and I ultimately went to the top ranked health law school in the country.
But even then, law school didn't at all prepare me for having to fight for a job for two years after leaving. I knew a lot of people who had no place to go after graduation. It seemed to me that the career services people were only interested in getting people into the larger firms, and the larger firms were only interested in a handful of students from my law school.
These days I don't necessarily advise against law school, but I do advise that you should only go if you really want to be a lawyer. Not if you want to be well off. Not if you want to be able to "do anything with a law degree." (That is bullshit crap that law school admissions people spew and has no basis in reality.) Not because you took a law class in college and love the academic side of the law. You should go to law school to be a lawyer. And you should do research on what exactly that entails before going. Don't assume the big firm with the ridiculous salary. And if you do assume that route, realize that it's your entire life that you're giving to the profession. And I'd recommend having a Plan B.
Tomorrow morning, I'm meeting a woman to talk about what it means to be a health lawyer. She's a third year law student, and she thinks that what I do may be interesting to her. I'm happy to share what I know about the profession, and I hope that the information that I give her is useful.
As for academia? I think that's probably better answered by other academics. I do think a lot of people go to grad school to hide from "the real world," whatever that may be. But I also think that academia is important, and that people go because they enjoy rigorous study in their chosen area of interest and want to pursue it. And again, I think that anyone who is interested in pursuing that route for their lives should do research on what happens at the end of the road to the PhD. Talk to others about it who have gone down that path before you.
And maybe read the comment thread over at BitchPhd. They definitely recommend having a Plan B.
The gyst is, don't do it. There are no jobs out there for you, and you will waste your 20s to end up in a rut and have no place to go.
The author of the post in question is on the market after having completed an (I think) English Lit PhD, and prospects are grim. The comments have been pretty interesting though, so I encourage you to read the whole discussion.
What I find interesting is that I have seen the exact same discussion happen with lawyers. Sure, the job prospects are not nearly as grim out of law school, but I've heard lawyers over and over again say "Don't do it" to those who would follow in their paths. Hell, I've said it.
I think the similarity is that there's an expectation of "success," however that is defined, in pursuing both tracks. People who go on to get PhDs, like people who go on to get JDs, are smart and have been pretty successful in academia prior to deciding to move on. Many prospective JDs, though, in my experience are often unsure of what they really want to do. I was unusual in my class, I think, in that I knew that I wanted to be a health lawyer. I focused my applications on law schools that were well regarded in health law, and I ultimately went to the top ranked health law school in the country.
But even then, law school didn't at all prepare me for having to fight for a job for two years after leaving. I knew a lot of people who had no place to go after graduation. It seemed to me that the career services people were only interested in getting people into the larger firms, and the larger firms were only interested in a handful of students from my law school.
These days I don't necessarily advise against law school, but I do advise that you should only go if you really want to be a lawyer. Not if you want to be well off. Not if you want to be able to "do anything with a law degree." (That is bullshit crap that law school admissions people spew and has no basis in reality.) Not because you took a law class in college and love the academic side of the law. You should go to law school to be a lawyer. And you should do research on what exactly that entails before going. Don't assume the big firm with the ridiculous salary. And if you do assume that route, realize that it's your entire life that you're giving to the profession. And I'd recommend having a Plan B.
Tomorrow morning, I'm meeting a woman to talk about what it means to be a health lawyer. She's a third year law student, and she thinks that what I do may be interesting to her. I'm happy to share what I know about the profession, and I hope that the information that I give her is useful.
As for academia? I think that's probably better answered by other academics. I do think a lot of people go to grad school to hide from "the real world," whatever that may be. But I also think that academia is important, and that people go because they enjoy rigorous study in their chosen area of interest and want to pursue it. And again, I think that anyone who is interested in pursuing that route for their lives should do research on what happens at the end of the road to the PhD. Talk to others about it who have gone down that path before you.
And maybe read the comment thread over at BitchPhd. They definitely recommend having a Plan B.