Advise Aspiring Grad Students

[marshwiggle]

Halve what you made business & science people and that's what people get paid in the humanities. While you were making 20-30k, we were making 8-12k.

But that's the point. How many people here only considered graduate school because it was going to pay for itself? That's certainly the case for me. I can't imagine I would have bothered otherwise.

Related to that, I would guess that even many (most?) humanities fields have a few scholarships that would be lucrative enough to prevent a person going into debt. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Bottom line: If you're not good enough for them to pay you enough to be there, you're probably not very likely to have good job prospects when you're done, whatever field you're in. (If you want to do it for the personal enrichment, and aren't worried about getting employed, then go for it.)

[apl68]

Halve what you made business & science people and that's what people get paid in the humanities. While you were making 20-30k, we were making 8-12k.

But that's the point. How many people here only considered graduate school because it was going to pay for itself? That's certainly the case for me. I can't imagine I would have bothered otherwise.

Related to that, I would guess that even many (most?) humanities fields have a few scholarships that would be lucrative enough to prevent a person going into debt. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Bottom line: If you're not good enough for them to pay you enough to be there, you're probably not very likely to have good job prospects when you're done, whatever field you're in. (If you want to do it for the personal enrichment, and aren't worried about getting employed, then go for it.)

In my experience, as noted above, there are departments that aren't above funding a student only half way--and then using them as cheap labor when they become desperate to complete the degree and not lose all the time they've already spent.  Prospective grad students need to do a lot of due diligence to avoid getting caught in traps like this.

[glowdart]

Halve what you made business & science people and that's what people get paid in the humanities. While you were making 20-30k, we were making 8-12k.

But that's the point. How many people here only considered graduate school because it was going to pay for itself? That's certainly the case for me. I can't imagine I would have bothered otherwise.

Related to that, I would guess that even many (most?) humanities fields have a few scholarships that would be lucrative enough to prevent a person going into debt. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Bottom line: If you're not good enough for them to pay you enough to be there, you're probably not very likely to have good job prospects when you're done, whatever field you're in. (If you want to do it for the personal enrichment, and aren't worried about getting employed, then go for it.)

And my point is that "paying for itself" doesn't mean the same thing when you're starting out with nothing.

Full funding (tuition, travel grant, stipend) does not mean that everyone can do it with no debt. 

[polly_mer]

Big picture: employers will pay as little as they can get away with paying.  People who knowingly take bad deals with a low probability of a good return on investment are making bad choices and are directly contributing to the evidence that humanities grad school programs only have to pay a pittance while still having enrollment and good enough students.

I agree that having no net is scary; that's why some of us didn't sign up for really risky programs and instead chose to get our finances in order first.  There's a long rant I have regarding how angry I am that people want to take my money to waste on other people's bad choices when so many people exist who could use that money in better ways to get out of poverty, just as I did.  I'm willing to chip in for the next generations, but let's not be stupid about how we're using the resources.

[adel9216]

How early should I start writing my Ph.D. thesis? Should I start now or after comps exam? Or very early on?

[clean]

Some people in the program my start there dissertation with the first class. Each class project will be some part of the dissertation. 

So this is a question that depends on the program and the university. Some programs may be more conducive to starting early, and some may not (you may not have the knowledge yet to really make progress on the topic).  Further, you may not really have a good topic until you are closer to comps! 

I hope that this helps you.

[Puget]

How early should I start writing my Ph.D. thesis? Should I start now or after comps exam? Or very early on?

This is a question for your advisor-- it is so field and program specific that we really can't answer that. For example in the sciences the dissertation is often a collection of studies some or all of which are already published as journal articles, plus a general intro and discussion. In that case, every journal article you write is potentially part of the dissertation, but you may not formally propose it until much later depending on the program.

[polly_mer]

How early should I start writing my Ph.D. thesis? Should I start now or after comps exam? Or very early on?

This is a question for your advisor-- it is so field and program specific that we really can't answer that.

This.

[Mobius]

Bumping this up since it's decision season.

My two cents:

1. Look ahead to the job market. Where do graduates of the program get jobs at?

2. Don't count on undergrad school to hire you once you defend. It's true the professors loved you and hope you do well. Chances a TT job opens when you finish are slim, and being great undergrad won't get you a TT job.

3. Don't count on teaching FT at a community college in case you don't land a position at a four-year school. Teaching at a CC isn't a consolation prize and those jobs are harder to land than you think.

4. Don't distract yourself with student government organizations. I've seen too many lose focus and stall writing their dissertations. A club is fine if you use it as an outlet to get away from research/writing and meet new people. Just remember you can't be a student forever.

5. Don't think work is beneath you, especially crappy jobs. The most successful grad students I've seen have taken jobs scrubbing toilets, Uber driver, or DoorDash delivery. You aren't entitled to money to sit and think as a grad student.

6. Don't be a critical jackass about everything. Yes, you need to learn to look at everything with a critical eye, but how you do it is just as important.