Graduate School

I am a Junior in College and I am weighing all the options for my future. One of the most interesting ones is attending graduate school to become an academic.

I will quote an article I came across:

Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go - Chronicle.com

Quote:

The reality is that less than half of all doctorate holders — after nearly a decade of preparation, on average — will ever find tenure-track positions.

Now, a lot of very qualified people end up getting part-time positions with no benefits or better future in sight. The academic system is antiquated and completely arbitrary during times of grade inflation.

Are any of you guys graduate students? What do you make of it?

How ya doing, buddy?

I am looking for a lit crit program, most likely. In those the story is quite different from the sciences.

I thought I could have sparked some discussion about education and values in modern culture, but perhaps my first post just wasn't pointed enough.

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What do you mean, cannot? A lot of graduate programs simply prepare you to be a professor.

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Yes, it's all good and nice when you are getting an engineering PhD. But that's obviously not the case. We have all grown up hearing that "you can't ever get too much education" or "invest in yourself." Well, I am about to invest another 7-10 years as well as 400k dollars (on top of the 200k I paid for undergraduate) just to end up on an *extremely* chancy field. Doesn't that seem a bit outrageous? Shouldn't we prize more than just engineers at this day an age?

Before the collapse, undergrads from my school would just work at J. P. Morgan or go into consulting and make a killing immediately. I don't see why I shouldn't have done the same thing. In fact, I don't see why I shouldn't have just kept the money I used to go to school and opened up a business.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

Although I guess with the cost of university these days, you really better hope you can make a buck with whatever you chose to do. All those loans aren't going to pay themselves off, are they.

I don't have any loans to repay for my undergraduate education (which, by the way, Sass, is in the Berkshires. Aren't you from around there?).

But -- my parents have gone through a lot of trouble to get me through it and $200k went into it, period.

Quote:

Here's a question: why are you paying for grad school? I thought grad school was something that was done under a scholorship program most of the time. 400k is a shitload of money and I'm guessing that 200k was full school without a scholarship. Presumably you're not one for receiving those? In that case seriously consider what you're getting yourself into, especially in THIS economy.

You may want to really think about it, it's a relief to know that you're still a junior and have time to do that. 600k is on the line.

Well, I can get scholarships to help me out, but probably will end up in debt for about 100k, plus what I miss of starting a career and that pay. I just threw that figure out there.

My point is, doesn't it seem like there just is too much of a financial sacrifice to become a professor when I am already putting in so many years of my life? I have my parents and younger brother to worry about... And also hopes of having a life at some point.

I am just so thrown off by how badly run almost anything in this world is.

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Originally Posted by RacinReaver

Professors do their job for the love of the work, not for the money it brings. When I finish with my PhD, I can either look into getting a post-doc paying a little more than I'm making now (not much), or go into industry and make closer to $90k. If I am eventually lucky enough to become a tenure-track professor, then I'll be starting around $60k a year. Less than what I could have made with my BS.

Obviously, but I still feel like people who are putting in DECADES of training are getting slighted by shitty return to their investment.

Maybe not, maybe just teaching at a high level is return enough.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I can't tell if you are being serious...?

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