<p>This is a great article on the decision regarding whether to go to grad school, especially in the humanities. I love his perspective on the innate value of intellectual exploration, and think it is pertinent to many of the discussions here, including those focused on undergrad.</p>
<p>The</a> Impossible Decision: On Whether or Not to Go to Graduate School : The New Yorker</p>
<p>Huh. While picking my grad school was very difficult, I never experienced any hesitation about whether or not to go.</p>
<p>The author seems to be talking exclusively about PhDs which makes it confusing. Committing 2-3 years of your life to graduate school for your masters is not nearly the decade long commitment the author’s talking about.</p>
<p>A big issue a lot of kids I know get, is money. Even more so than UG because parents tend help as much as they can for that. Also many kids and their parents are “loaned up” by the time they graduate. Getting a terminal degree master’s that will give a huge boost in finding a job and the salary is great if one can get into such a program and pay for it as they don’t tend to give stipends. Also, I’m hearing more and more about stipends coming up way short even at some impressive schools. My friends’ DD who is going for a PHD in psych does not have all of her costs met, and parents are pitching in, or there would be no way this would be a go. And we are talking about a top level school and program here. </p>
<p>Romanigypsyeyes, was getting funding for a master’s difficult? My understanding is that it is.</p>
<p>My d. is finishing a dual Ph.D. in six years, including now living in a pink marble castle on an island in Venice, all expenses paid. <a href=“http://www.cini.it/en/visite-guidate[/url]”>http://www.cini.it/en/visite-guidate</a> Hasn’t cost us (or her) a penny.</p>
<p>Nice work if you can get it. If she ends up at Walmart like everyone else, at least she’ll have pics.</p>
<p>Cpt, I had offers everywhere from nothing to full scholarship + stipend for my MPH. Judging by responses on another forum, for my field, funding isn’t easy.</p>
<p>My son’s SO is getting her master’s in her field part time and paying through the nose. She could not get into any state programs in two states, so she is paying private school full price. It will mean an auto pay raise when she gets the degree, but, man, it is so rough on her. Back to living on very little, doing a full time job, driving 45 minutes to her school at night several times a week. She had a 3.4, 3.5 average in college and job experience at a prestigious place, but still that was her experience. It is really tough out there.</p>
<p>Mini, I am so glad your DD is getting this experience. Of course, you have to go visit right? My kids tended to pick their schools at locales that do not make the tourist lists at all, sigh.</p>
<p>Yup. Late September, though we are not allowed to stay at the palace, so will have to stay near San Marco. Oh, the hardships! (But we have a very good tour guide…) I may head to Uganda from there.</p>
<p>The BA for a lot of people is a time-wasting, overpriced, but necessary evil, but about the PhD my advice can be unambiguous – don’t do it! The "Thesis Hatement essay by Rebecca Schuman, to which the New Yorker essay links, explains why. I got a PhD myself but consider it a mistake.</p>
<p>What was your subject, Beliavsky?</p>
<p>As the first paragraph of “Thesis Hatement” quite eloquently shows, most of these “don’t go to grad school” pieces are written by people who entered the process completely uninformed of the realities, and now assume that everyone else is as ignorant as they are. No, the life of a professor is not all sunshine and unicorn farts. Why did you think it was?</p>
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<p>It was Physics.</p>
<p>And you did not find the time spent in intellectual pursuit valuable in and of itself? It has not helped make you who you are?</p>
<p>^ That’s curious. As far as I know, you can’t join academia in the sciences, at least, without a PhD and a postdoc. PhD in science probably isn’t that good for industry, though.</p>
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<p>Oh, that is only an appetizer for the upcoming life as an academic diva. From the pink marble castle in Venice to an ivory tower in a different prestigious setting. No need to slave at WalMart. After that is a place where you actually have to … work. Unless we find the courage to make necessary changes in the funding of higher education, there will be plenty of sinecures to be had. And plenty of opportunities to brag about them, which is actually a lot easier to take and accept than the perennial jeremiads about how tough the life of academic divas has become. </p>
<p>;(</p>
<p>Her’s is a burgeoning field. She is going to be one of the world’s leading experts on hell (I kid you not. ;))</p>
<p>Hey mini…I studied and worked at Giorgio Cini as well! (way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth)</p>
<p>I can understand the study of heaven in Venice…but hell?</p>
<p>Now THAT’s a small world!</p>
<p>Oh, yes. We are hoping to come home with a whole bunch of Renaissance torture equipment! (Venice was especially famous for finger screws, apparently.)</p>
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Would that be a 300 baud modem? ;)</p>
<p>You mean the kind you have to stick a phone receiver into, where every time someone walks by on the raised, and therefore bouncy, machine-room floor it introduces a bunch of garbage characters into your work?</p>
<p>Wow… you must all be MUCH older than I…when I entered IT/Communications world we had 1200 baud rack mounted modems. ;)</p>