Don't try to dodge the recession with grad school

[sertrel]

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/02/03/dont-try-to-dodge-the-recession-with-grad-school/Read more... )

Comments

[ravenword]

Whew! The worst she could say about a science PhD was that I won't find a highly paid job (when correcting for IQ, education, and working hours) when I get mine. Being so smart and educated, I must prefer a job doing something mind-numbing and wearing power suits and getting rich.

In fact, the snarky link about science and bad pay only refers to people who want tenure-track professorships, completely ignoring the fact that other job options exist (despite the fact that a large number of science PhDs are in "alternative" careers, which should really not be considered "alternative" any longer...).

[aileen8aalien]

She does make some good points, although her bias is so over-the-top that it clouds what she's really saying. I know people who are diving back into grad school because they think it's going to be free money for very little work and they'll walk out into a lucrative and easy teaching position. The absurdity of that is mind blowing enough, but then add to it that most of them don't want to teach and it seems asinine. Plus, I know a number of grad students who are going to stay in grad school because they don't know what they want to do (but they know they don't want to teach) and because it puts off having pay student loans. Those are not valid reasons for going into/or staying in grad school.

The more PhDs that are graduated, the more diluted the talent becomes. I know that with every half-assed PhD my former program graduates, my degree value decreases ever so slightly.

[sensaes]

"So instead of dodging tough questions by going back to school, try being lost."

Graduate "school" is founded upon tough questions. Such as, "Why is this place referred to as a 'school'? Aren't 'schools' for children?" and "Why are these people staring at my cowboy boots?"

Gah. She's not even offering a reiki massage course. What nonsense is this?

[inkmark]

From the About This Blog page:

I had a crisis in college when I realized that all entry-level jobs sucked, so I decided to play professional beach volleyball instead. Then I went to graduate school for creative writing and had a boyfriend who taught me HTML. This miraculously made me qualified to run an online marketing department for a Fortune 500 company in the mid-90's. I stayed in software marketing for a while and then founded three internet companies.

Next?

[vlion]

Ooo. Good catch.

[fixious]

She seems really classy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penelope_Trunk

(Good fucking lord, she's from my alma mater.)

:(

[max_ambiguity]

1. Grad school pointlessly delays adulthood.

I guess if you do get a job in academia then you never grow up at all? I had no idea I was surrounded by Peter Pans. Suddenly, grad school is looking a lot more enticing again.

[theredrighthand]

My favourite part is how grad school doesn't allow you to be (a) be lost or (b) develop any self-knowledge.

[knut_hamson]

I took a seminar seminar in Self-Knowledge. And I took an incomplete in Losing Myself.

[theredrighthand]

I teach Losing Yourself 501: Intro to Grad School.