I know, my advice seems pessimistic. Some undergrad's all psyched about grad school, and I piss all over their enthusiasm
Well, someone has to piss on their enthusiasm. I remember being at that stage of the game, and I just didn't have a clear idea of what I was heading into. I had a vague sense it would be hard to find a job in the same place as the Future Dr. Mrs Dr. PGS. But no one looked me in the eye and said, "You'll spend the next ten years scheming about how the two of you can be together, and a lot of the time--maybe most of the time--you won't make it happen." And I remember when my friends asked me when I'd be moving back home, I said I didn't know. But that was bullshit--I should have known. The answer was, and is, never. But no one looked me in the eye and said, "You'll never live here again."
It's hard to get a clear-eyed look at the sacrifices you'll have to make when they're still a long way off.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Don't forget self-selection and the experiences good students have had up till they enter onto the market.
Good students getting into grad schools half been beating "the odds" all their life, so why should it continue to be any different?
One person I know in another field landed a good gig after 5 yrs of yr2yrs, but was "naive" enough to think until the 3rd yr of the phd that there would be some control of the region if not the city of final settling down. Not naive, I say, but simply mis-experienced (for a neologism): that is, where would one have ever gotten the message that being at the top of the heap and the class will eventually not continue to open whatever door you knock upon? The first real rejection these people (like many of us) have ever experienced is from their job apps...-New Scotland
Post a Comment