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<p>Extremely doubtful.</p>
<p>One other thing. The daughter is only a sophomore, so I would take the PhD/professor ambitions with a grain of salt. It is still pretty early in the scheme of things.</p>
<p>I wish I could be an English professor. Getting paid for reading, teaching, and discussing great literature sounds like a wonderful way to pass the days.</p>
<p>I know no one who regretted going to PhD programs in the humanities and social scientists among several dozen friends/acquaintances who dropped out along the way or quit academia after getting that PhD. Every one of them were happy they gave it the āgood old college tryā. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I know of dozens of high school classmates and friendsā¦including a woman I dated who are quite regretful about allowing themselves to be peer-pressured or pushed by parents into pursuing careers in medicine, engineering, law, i-banking, or pharmacy. </p>
<p>One doctor friend had a mental breakdown that played out live on my FB page and I learned to avoid any discussion of our work lives with the woman I dated as it will inevitably devolve into a long rant about why she hated her career path as a pharmacist and feels trapped in it due to the current economic situation and the fact her education was so specialized. And the sad thing is weāve only been out of college for the last 10-12 years.</p>
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<p>How about correcting freshman English papers at a community college or less-selective public U?</p>
<p>Cobrat speaks to my experience as well. I know many unhappy scientists, engineers, doctors, lawyers (some employed, and some not, or just barely.) Iāve never met anyone who regretted going for their Ph.D. in the humanities. Now, it is true, many then found out later that careerwise, it didnāt work, and they ended up doing something else (which simply means that, on that second track, they started ālateā - though remember that the average UNDERGRADUATE in the U.S. is 24.8 years old. </p>
<p>Being a Professor, like any other job, will have its ups and downs. But regardless of those ups and downs, you have the luxury of the subject you love to fall back on.</p>
<p>I have a hard time relating to the āhelp!ā part of the original post and concern over whether to encourage or discourage D regarding her career path. I realize we are all different as parents, however. For me, I canāt imagine NOT supporting WHATEVER interest area or career my kids wish to pursue. I want them to study and go into whatever fields they are passionate about. I truly have no opinion about it and am behind whatever they are into. </p>
<p>Also, I am reading some saying how difficult it is to make it as a PhD candidate and then as an English professor. Difficult and challenging odds have never stopped my kids in going after their fields of interest, not to mention ever considering how lucrative the field is or is not. </p>
<p>One of my kids is in the field of musical theater. Just getting into a college program had very difficult odds in the single digit acceptance rates. Her field is VERY hard to make it in, with aspects that are even beyond oneās control (talent). She is just 23 but has been working nonstop in several capacities in her field since graduating college almost 2.5 years ago. She may not make a lot of money but she supports herself and has been building a career in a very difficult field. I canāt imagine her doing anything else due to her passion (she has many other skills). Iām really happy for her and am behind her 100%. Honestly, from the time she was tiny, I knew she was going into this field and there was never any discussion as to her college major or career field. It is part of who she is as a person. I canāt imagine discouraging that no matter the odds of making it or how much money one can earn. </p>
<p>My other kid is in the field of architecture. Getting into any of the highly regarded MArch programs had odds in the single digit acceptance rates too but she got into many top programs. She switched gears into a specialized area in the field of architectureā¦building science and sustainability and applied to new grad schools (very few have this specialty) and the odds again were 5% to get in but she got into the best programs and in fact, is the ONLY MS student in her year at her program. Difficult odds, yes, but Iād never discourage it. I donāt know what lies ahead for her job-wise as she is still in grad school. But again, weāre behind her choices 100%. </p>
<p>I cannot fathom discouraging my kid regarding college major or career field based on long odds or how much money can be made. I am a firm believer to go into what you are passionate about and be the best you can be. Lastly, no decision is permanent and a college major doesnāt dictate a career necessarily and many also change career fields over a lifetime.</p>
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<p>Every profession has its low-end grunt work jobs that nobody hopes and dreams to someday be doing. Itās true of doctors, lawyers, engineers, politicians,ā¦everything. But that isnāt and has never been a good reason not to pursue that field.</p>
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<p>I have an interesting story that is relevant to this thread. A family friend was being browbeaten into becoming a doctor by his father. He was a really smart guy, but didnāt have an interest in it. Eventually, he became estranged from his father, for this and other reasons. Instead he became a social worker. After 4 or 5 years, an interest in medicine started to grow, and he decided to go to medical school.</p>
<p>The point here is that by forcing or coercing your daughter to go against her heart, you may rob her of enjoying her careerāeven if she would have eventually wanted to go down the practical path. Itās like introducing someone to your daughter and saying āyou should marry this person.ā Even if they would have been a good match, itās going to spoil it.</p>
<p>Annasdadāthatās what I do. It aināt bad at all. And if I had finished my PhD, Iād be doing it for enough money, too, if this were still what I was doing. I actually really like what I do. It just doesnāt pay much as an adjunct.</p>
<p>I quit a desk job to go back to teaching freshman English, and Iām much happier than before. But I am pretty sure that Iād have been closer to Coureurās picture of reading, writing, and talking about great lit if Iād stayed with the PhD. With summers off, too!</p>
<p>I canāt think of a much better job than that!</p>
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<p>This could be because those studying the humanities usually go in with relatively low career expectations, so almost anything other than long term unemployment will be successful to them. Whereas those who go into something only because of career reasons (e.g. doctor, lawyer, etc. if it is not really their passion) or have unrealistically high career expectations (e.g. biology or chemistry, not realizing that those two popular subjects are exceptions to the often claimed statement that āthere is a shortage of STEM peopleā) are more likely to find disappointment later.</p>
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<p>As one of these low-life grunt workers (your words not mine), I work 7.5 months a year, 20 to 25 hours per week. I have a month off at Christmas and more than three months off in the summer. My position is the envy of most of my friends. Very few part-time jobs come close to the hourly rate I earn. It isnāt such a bad deal.</p>
<p>Plus, my students need someone who cares that they succeed. Many of them are living a home life that is a disaster. My classroom gives them a safe, happy place to come two or three days a week. I donāt get through to everyone, but I hope that I get through to a few. We had a fairly lively debate today about immigrants learning English and I thought to myself that the community college is a good place to be.</p>
<p>I was also an underprepared college student and managed to eventually get a masterās degree. People deserve a chance and working at a place that opens doors for young people is rewarding.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. Several of them had expectations of landing a tenure track position and actually got itā¦only to find it wasnāt their cup of tea. </p>
<p>Moreover, know plenty of people in engineering/CS who left their occupations for similar reasons who are now doing other things. In addition, I know plenty of former engineering/CS majors who have been long-term unemployedā¦including some who were straight-A/-A students from schools like MIT, Cornell, CMU, etc.</p>
<p>My SIL got up to her disertation for a PhD in an English-related field and stopped,a s she realized she didnāt want to be a professor (she had done the TA thing while in school). It wasnāt the end of the road. She worked as a technical writer and ended up in the B2B advertising industry for a while. </p>
<p>I have a neighbor who is going to medical school in his 40s after a succesful career in marketing at a large consulting company. </p>
<p>Itās never too late to pursue your dreams, but donāt push your kids into something they donāt want and donāt shelter them too long from the āreal worldā. My BFF never had a job until she graduated law school - her parents didnāt want her to have to juggle too much. I always tell my kids that life is full of tough choices and they need to live with them.</p>
<p>I apologize if this has already been posted on this thread.</p>
<p>[The</a> Answer Sheet - So you want to be a professor? A laugh/cry video](<a href=āhttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/higher-education/so-you-want-to-studyteach-huma.html]Theā>http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/higher-education/so-you-want-to-studyteach-huma.html)</p>
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<p>That video should be required viewing for every Ph.D. program applicant:)</p>
<p>I just think itās important that students realize two things: that full-time professor jobs, even the temp ones at community colleges, are very hard to come by, and there is an exceptionally high chance of placement failure compared to other professions. I canāt fault a parent for worrying about the economic viability of this career choice. If a kid does not mind poverty and economic instability as a tradeoff; if the parent has the resources to provide an economic cushion for an adult child if things donāt work out; if the Ph.D. candidate is married to someone who is willing to pay the bills and be the financial stability of the family; all of these are choices. But I really am uncomfortable just saying, āFollow your dreams!ā Thatās irresponsible, and it does young idealists a disservice.</p>
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<p>As several posters have pointed out, failure to obtain a full-time tenured position does not sentence one to a life of penury. There are lots of other options for smart people, even though they may not be directly related to oneās degree.</p>
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<p>Yes, I can think of a lot of things Iād put below correcting freshman English papers on my list of ways to earn a living (not that Iām qualified to do it anyway). But I think that someone needs a realistic picture of what a job is really like.</p>
<p>My Dad was a college professor (history) and loved teaching - every aspect of it except correcting exams. At exam time, we were advised to give him a wide berth, because for a few days he was not fun to be around.</p>
<p>Another angle here is that we need smart passionate people to be teachers and professors! Iāve been in the field of education my entire adult life. It is not a high paying field at all but what more important job is there than educating young people?? Iād hate to see a brilliant person like the OPās daughter discouraged from working toward become a professor. Such people are needed in these influential positions.</p>
<p>I donāt know how easy it is to segway into alternative careers after the Phd in english. However, I do remember how a lot of my classmates were discouraged against going into math and physics. The same spiel was given about how impossible it is to get tenure and the unavailability of other jobs. Well, as it turns out, while itās tough to get tenure, there were a lot of jobs available to strong but not spectacular math and physics graduates. So the whole argument of āwhat will you do with itā¦youāve got to do engineeringā was completely wrong. One reason to do what you love at each stage in your career is that you may not be able to anticipate that there are practical opportunities that may use the skill which you are talented in. </p>
<p>In this case the OP is considering, a PhD in english may be valuable for an editor in a publishing office, for instance.</p>