Why is it that professors in grad school...

[libnnc]

try so hard to discourage people from seeking Ph.D.s?

It's like they get us this far and then they lower the boom.

They offer encouragement the first year of the master's program to get us jazzed up about our research projects and then get all "doom and gloom" as the second year rolls around.

It's a very special club and I can't be a part of it apparently.

[Cabcere]

1. I don't know, but I've had undergrad profs who basically told us to never go to grad school

because it was a waste of time and money. :shrug: I'm currently a senior in college, and right now I'm thinking that if I do go to grad school, it probably won't be for a few years - I'm starting to suffer from academic burnout, and I'd like to get a job and build up some money, pay off student loans, etc. first. :shrug:

[TZ]

2. Depends on what you want to do....

There is a actually a glut of Ph.D's is some fields. In my field of biology I have only a BS degree (with the Master's equivalent of experience) and hold the same title and position as some with Ph.D's. Another Ph.D I knew said that you should only get the degree if you want to be a desk jockey.....

[libnnc]

3. My field is US History

specifically US Gay/Lesbian History

I'm working on something now that could actually become a dissertation but there's no one in the program now who could mentor me for a Ph.D. I have to stay in state. There are only 3 US History PhD programs in NC (and I'm at one of them getting my MA).

I think I'm screwed.

Or maybe it's burnout.

[Lex]

4. My undergrad advisor told me to forget going to law school

& that it was way too hard to get into law school & I should just be a good girl and think about something else.

I got in law school, did just fine, and have built a thriving practice which has been going for 15 years now.

Don't listen to the nay-sayers. I say to those people "You don't know me!"

:hi:

[ThomCat]

5. I've noticed that they encourage a lot of people to get into

grad school, because their funding is based on that headcount. Then they encourage you to stay long enough to spend a lot of money on tuition and fees. And then they want you to go away before they have to get too involved working with you.

It seems to me that a lot of schools use grad school as a financial racket.

[libnnc]

6. That's what it looks like.

You would think that a young, growing PhD program like ours would encourage its MA students to continue on with them. As it stands now, I don't think I have enough time to get together all my stuff for the application deadline for next fall (which is Jan. 15).

Sometimes I feel like they set us up to fail. How can I get my app ready when I haven't yet finished my writing sample? And how can I get faculty to submit recommendations when I haven't finished my research intensive work with them? I have no choice but to wait a year and then apply.

[ThomCat]

9. The program I was in

routinely stretched out their students to 4 years to finish their Masters and 7 years to get their PhD. They were obvious about it too. Everyone knew that it was a scam to keep the money coming in, but nobody wanted to transfer and start over, and they all wanted the prestigious NYU name on their degree. x(

I left to be become take a well-paying corporate job, and I think I made a good decision. When I go back to grad school it definitely won't be there.

[UTUSN]

7. Is this a recurrent event?!1 n/t

[libnnc]

8. huh?

[rockymountaindem]

10. I just started grad school, but that's not the vibe I get

So far the faculty has been supportive, although the administration has been pretty mean, but I'm used to that from the ol' days at my undergrad institution.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Grad school was a great, enriching experience, more for the

friends I made and the intellectual atmosphere on the Yale campus than for the courses I took.

However, the job market for academics is extremely cyclical, and universities, like everywhere else, are being taken over by bean counters, who have decided that it's more economical to hire three part-timers than one full-time tenure-track person.

I'm not sorry that I went to grad school, which was one of the formative experiences of my life. However, I came out of it at the wrong time and never really established a satisfying academic career. I stuck it out for eleven years, but when my last job ended, I was happy to go into something else.

[Book Lover]

12. Check out the recent conversation on

http://rateyourstudents.blogspot.com They have been discussing this very issue this week.

[Adsos Letter]

13. I am also a History grad...

...and just the other day in our grad seminar our professor was trying to convince us all to get into writing historical fiction, 'cause that's where the bucks are...

It's different in grad school...

[petronius]

14. Professors (like most people) occasionally enjoy whining and sniveling

abut how tough we've had it and how many tribulations we faced. We don't really mean it, and we usually don't think you're listening anyway. Truth be told, grad school rocks and we're all a bit jealous that you're still there and we can't go back...