Among the most crucial decisions (or at least, the first of many) surrounding graduate school is the decision to even start. Here are the thoughts of several academic bloggers considering the decision from many points, as potential student, recent student, and advisor.
Howzerdo at Gully Brook Press talks about the decision as it's being made.
Though she writes largely about the experience of professional music, Terminal Degree's perspective at Metamorphosis Complete, applies broadly.
Dr. Crazy, currently at Reassigned Time and formerly at The Chronicles of Dr. Crazy, considers, considers and reconsiders her experience, and her take on the advice to go to grad school.
Finally, Bardiac offers a useful list of things to know and consider, items which are useful for surviving graduate school as well as making this initial decision.
Updated 2008: Undine offers these considerations.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Required Reading: Selfhood, Identity, and Enculturation
Dr. Crazy, at Reassigned Time, offered up the post that kicked off this whole endeavor, and so I'll begin this section on the processes of identity formation, selfhood, and enculturation into academia by linking her three consecutive posts on the subject.
Readers will perhaps note that I have included no posts of my own here, and thus far, I've had little to say about graduate education. But let me lightly shape the below links by noting that for many many of those who do graduate degrees, the process of developing an academic identity is at least simultaneous with the process of developing a fully formed adult identity. While in the call for posts, I think I suggested that this could be a crushing process, I think most of us would agree that the years from, say age 22-32 can be crushing in many many ways, and that academia simply gives one shape to the ways that identity formation and enculturation happen, a shape that I'd argue can usually be pretty amenable to letting foibles, quirks, and any number of other lovely little curlicues of personality develop freely. All that said, the posts that follow will help the reader see some of the shapes--crushing, infuriating, and even liberating as they may be.
First, Negative Capability at Mansion of Many Apartments describes the academic life cycle.
Next, a collection of posts on midsets for surviving: Sisyphus at Academic Cog offers the knife and spoon metaphor.
Undine at Not of General Interest coins a motto: Catch Up, and then reminds students that even those with whom you're catching up sometimes have feet of clay.
At her old blog, Dr. Crazy ponders "thinking outside the box" as a recipe for success, but also recommends the very useful "Growing-the-fuck up."
Jane Dark at Rome-Colored Glasses offers up a slightly less snarky extension of this line of thinking, and considers the hybrid student/professional status of the graduate student (for more, see the below post on professionalization).
Lumpenprofessoriat gives it to us straight with horror stories.
Significantly, La Rebelde at Suenitos de Una Rebelde reminds us of the vectors of culture and identity that crisscross any graduate experience with struggle.
Finally, two responses to Dr. Crazy's opening responses about becoming an academic, both laced with hope. JB at Age of Perfection remembers to love reading, among other crucial realizations in this little rambling gem, while at Practica, Tiruncula's excellent series of posts on her very positive experience of growing into academia leave us with a note of optimism that even the most successful academic can reach that place without the crushing angst that seems to lurk at the edges (and for some, at the center) of graduate school experience.
Readers will perhaps note that I have included no posts of my own here, and thus far, I've had little to say about graduate education. But let me lightly shape the below links by noting that for many many of those who do graduate degrees, the process of developing an academic identity is at least simultaneous with the process of developing a fully formed adult identity. While in the call for posts, I think I suggested that this could be a crushing process, I think most of us would agree that the years from, say age 22-32 can be crushing in many many ways, and that academia simply gives one shape to the ways that identity formation and enculturation happen, a shape that I'd argue can usually be pretty amenable to letting foibles, quirks, and any number of other lovely little curlicues of personality develop freely. All that said, the posts that follow will help the reader see some of the shapes--crushing, infuriating, and even liberating as they may be.
First, Negative Capability at Mansion of Many Apartments describes the academic life cycle.
Next, a collection of posts on midsets for surviving: Sisyphus at Academic Cog offers the knife and spoon metaphor.
Undine at Not of General Interest coins a motto: Catch Up, and then reminds students that even those with whom you're catching up sometimes have feet of clay.
At her old blog, Dr. Crazy ponders "thinking outside the box" as a recipe for success, but also recommends the very useful "Growing-the-fuck up."
Jane Dark at Rome-Colored Glasses offers up a slightly less snarky extension of this line of thinking, and considers the hybrid student/professional status of the graduate student (for more, see the below post on professionalization).
Lumpenprofessoriat gives it to us straight with horror stories.
Significantly, La Rebelde at Suenitos de Una Rebelde reminds us of the vectors of culture and identity that crisscross any graduate experience with struggle.
Finally, two responses to Dr. Crazy's opening responses about becoming an academic, both laced with hope. JB at Age of Perfection remembers to love reading, among other crucial realizations in this little rambling gem, while at Practica, Tiruncula's excellent series of posts on her very positive experience of growing into academia leave us with a note of optimism that even the most successful academic can reach that place without the crushing angst that seems to lurk at the edges (and for some, at the center) of graduate school experience.
Required Reading: The Hoops
The work of graduate school, ostensibly at least, is the completion of a course of study, which, following classroom time (mostly covered in other entries) comes to a climax in a series of hoops: a qualifying exam, maybe a prospectus defense, a dissertation. Some advice on those processes:
First, Psyc Girl asks about tips on studying for comps, and gets some good feedback in the comments.
Of the entire process, much has been said about working with advisors, and while other great posts on the topic certainly exist, some excellent nuggets of wisdom can be found here:
Claire Potter at Tenured Radical considers the virtues of the "good-enough advisor".
Undine at Not of General Interest has a bit of a cautionary tale about how much power advisors do and don't have.
Meanwhile, Dr. Crazy at Reassigned Time considers the role of mentoring more broadly.
Of course, one must also consider research and writing processes, and Undine offers some fantastic advice on researching, while EA at The Grand Improvisation rants usefully about her own processes.
Finally, while many have written on the writing process itself, few do so as eloquently as WWWMama at Working, Writing, Wailing Mama. Here are three posts that give glimpses into the dissertating life.
First, Psyc Girl asks about tips on studying for comps, and gets some good feedback in the comments.
Of the entire process, much has been said about working with advisors, and while other great posts on the topic certainly exist, some excellent nuggets of wisdom can be found here:
Claire Potter at Tenured Radical considers the virtues of the "good-enough advisor".
Undine at Not of General Interest has a bit of a cautionary tale about how much power advisors do and don't have.
Meanwhile, Dr. Crazy at Reassigned Time considers the role of mentoring more broadly.
Of course, one must also consider research and writing processes, and Undine offers some fantastic advice on researching, while EA at The Grand Improvisation rants usefully about her own processes.
Finally, while many have written on the writing process itself, few do so as eloquently as WWWMama at Working, Writing, Wailing Mama. Here are three posts that give glimpses into the dissertating life.
Required Reading: Professionalization
While many of the above posts discuss the transition into graduate school, many students are already looking beyond the hallowed halls of their own degree programs. In fact, a great deal of discussion about graduate school concerns the degree to which graduate students can and should be preparing for academic careers beyond the PhD program. While faculty are intimately familiar with the Teaching / Research / Service division of labor, graduate programs often offer uneven preparation on this balancing act. The following posts (some of which themselves link to excellent posts) offer plenty of food for though on the process of professionalization.
Dr. Virago's post at Quod She on professionalization, like the posts with which she is in dialogue, is notable not only for the insight of the post, but of the excellent discussion that follows in the comments.
Similarly, Lisa Chase offers her considered input.
Both Flavia of Ferule and Fescue, and Dr. Crazy at Reassigned Time offer up excellent advice on networking .
Dr. Crazy also offers up an important take not just on teaching (for which advice is abundantly available) but on learning to teach as a graduate student and as a professional.
And finally, Barnet Bound asks us to consider that bastard stepchild of the whole balancing act, service, as it fits into the larger picture of graduate student education.
Dr. Virago's post at Quod She on professionalization, like the posts with which she is in dialogue, is notable not only for the insight of the post, but of the excellent discussion that follows in the comments.
Similarly, Lisa Chase offers her considered input.
Both Flavia of Ferule and Fescue, and Dr. Crazy at Reassigned Time offer up excellent advice on networking .
Dr. Crazy also offers up an important take not just on teaching (for which advice is abundantly available) but on learning to teach as a graduate student and as a professional.
And finally, Barnet Bound asks us to consider that bastard stepchild of the whole balancing act, service, as it fits into the larger picture of graduate student education.
Required Reading: The Job Market, Academic and Otherwise
For many graduate students, particularly in the humanities, the job market represents (perhaps even more than earning the degree itself) the culmination of the graduate school experience. Advice abounds on the subject, and perhaps if folks know of purely informational websites on approaching the humanities job market, I can post them here as well). Undine at Not of General Interest offers a few additions to the conventional wisdom with these thoughts
In the meantime, the rule of thumb for sanity's sake is to approach it with as much good humor as one can muster. In this spirit, Oso Raro at Slaves of Academe offers this advice.
For what happens after that, Earnest English seems to be collecting posts on the process from grad school to TT job. Keep your eyes peeled.
While I imagine that useful advice on the job search may accumulate here over time, I believe it to be crucial to balance these narratives with other narratives of the end of grad school, alternate careers, and leaving gracefully.
Here, Adjunct Whore at Narratives contemplates alternate careers.
Flavia, in a previous guise as La Lecturess, remembers those who left academia for other paths.
And finally, and powerfully, is Scrivener's thoughtful and hopeful post about his decision to stop work on the dissertation.
Though this is the first post chronologically, it will appear to be the final post in the Grad Compendium, and I close with Scrivener's narrative for many reasons. Many, even most, graduate careers end in ways similarly unexpected at their outsets. And few who have gone through this process, whether they found tenure track jobs, toil as adjuncts, leave academia altogether, or somewhere in between, do so with such grace. And while many go through this little gristmill for the mind, it is the rare gem who manages to do so gracefully. it is my hope that the reader who is at an early stage of their process finds ways to do precisely that.
In the meantime, the rule of thumb for sanity's sake is to approach it with as much good humor as one can muster. In this spirit, Oso Raro at Slaves of Academe offers this advice.
For what happens after that, Earnest English seems to be collecting posts on the process from grad school to TT job. Keep your eyes peeled.
While I imagine that useful advice on the job search may accumulate here over time, I believe it to be crucial to balance these narratives with other narratives of the end of grad school, alternate careers, and leaving gracefully.
Here, Adjunct Whore at Narratives contemplates alternate careers.
Flavia, in a previous guise as La Lecturess, remembers those who left academia for other paths.
And finally, and powerfully, is Scrivener's thoughtful and hopeful post about his decision to stop work on the dissertation.
Though this is the first post chronologically, it will appear to be the final post in the Grad Compendium, and I close with Scrivener's narrative for many reasons. Many, even most, graduate careers end in ways similarly unexpected at their outsets. And few who have gone through this process, whether they found tenure track jobs, toil as adjuncts, leave academia altogether, or somewhere in between, do so with such grace. And while many go through this little gristmill for the mind, it is the rare gem who manages to do so gracefully. it is my hope that the reader who is at an early stage of their process finds ways to do precisely that.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Compendium Update
The forthcoming post that we will call "Required Reading" now has a lot of great links--keep 'em coming. Of course, I decide to do this while in the middle of a major article overhaul, and an impending trip to my parents' place for much of the rest of the week, so it may be next week before a finished product is up. But...BUT! it will be great.
Light blogging ahead...
Light blogging ahead...
Friday, June 01, 2007
Call for Posts: Required Reading for Graduate Students
Dr. Crazy has a great post today about trying to demystify the kind of identity loss process of graduate school, the full scale annihilation of self that has inspired and still inspires the worst sort of imposter syndrome in each of us.
As I read it, I thought, Man, I wish I had read this about ten years ago. And then I recalled having said that to myself about fifty times over the last four years since I started blogging. So it occurred to me that maybe we should keep some kind of compendium of required reading posts for surviving graduate school, a kind of edited one-time carnival.
So, if you wouldn't mind, dear readers, could you complete as many of the following tasks as possible:
a) Check your archives for as many posts as you think would be useful for such a collection.
b) Think of posts you've seen at other sites that would be good submissions.
c) If the mood strikes you, compose such a post.
d) Maybe announce and link this post so your readers (since my readership is comparatively small).
e) Keep this post in mind if in 3 months someone else posts an essential post on surviving graduate school.
So copy post addresses in the comments, or just gmail me at delightandinstruct . . . if I get enough good references (and I'll poke around for them, too), I'll put up the results ASAP.
As I read it, I thought, Man, I wish I had read this about ten years ago. And then I recalled having said that to myself about fifty times over the last four years since I started blogging. So it occurred to me that maybe we should keep some kind of compendium of required reading posts for surviving graduate school, a kind of edited one-time carnival.
So, if you wouldn't mind, dear readers, could you complete as many of the following tasks as possible:
a) Check your archives for as many posts as you think would be useful for such a collection.
b) Think of posts you've seen at other sites that would be good submissions.
c) If the mood strikes you, compose such a post.
d) Maybe announce and link this post so your readers (since my readership is comparatively small).
e) Keep this post in mind if in 3 months someone else posts an essential post on surviving graduate school.
So copy post addresses in the comments, or just gmail me at delightandinstruct . . . if I get enough good references (and I'll poke around for them, too), I'll put up the results ASAP.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)