Should I go to grad school?
From time to time, prospective graduate students write to me and ask me about my program, why I decided to do it, and whether they should choose it also.
This always strikes me as funny, because I never felt like I chose this path. Rather, it chose me. I became obsessed with a set of research questions that I could not put down, and that hauled me through two masters and most of my PhD.
Obsession is not without its costs, but lack of direction is not one of them. Today, a recent UCLA grad wrote, asking, in essence, "Should I go to grad school?"
What I told her might well be relevant to others, so I'm posting it here.
Should You Go To Grad School?
First, read this.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/gradschool.html
Next, take some time off. Get a job, an internship, travel, explore some career fields that might interest you.
After 3-5 years, apply to a PhD program, if you are still interested. But you might be so engaged in your job that you continue with that, or you decide to get a masters, or you go to law school, or you go traveling...
Seriously, I don't think it's a good idea to enter a PhD program right after college. I had many friends who did that when we graduated, and some friends here who were just out of college, and many of them were miserable. On the other hand, I worked for a decade before returning to grad school, and I'm loving it.
Grad school is really hard on many different levels, and the only reason to do it is because there's absolutely nothing else that you want to do. If you know right now that you want to be a professor, or do some kind of research that you can't do without a PhD, then go for it. But it doesn't sound like you have that kind of surety.
After working for a decade, I went back to school for a masters, at [Ivy League U]. In the course of that program, I began some research that I could not give up - and still can't. I leave tomorrow for Bhutan. I am devastatingly passionate about my research questions, and feel very lucky to be able to pursue answering them. But without some kind of burning fire, grad school is very very difficult. I chose [my university] because it has one of the best enviro programs in the country, and I had already been at [Ivy League U].
Most PhD programs fund you, with a combination of teaching and research assistantships, if you get in. That means you're working for a professor, but usually in a way that advances your studies, at least in the broadest sense.
I will likely end up teaching when I graduate, but my original plan was to work in international biodiversity conservation. There were particular changes that I wanted to see in the way that biodiv conservation happens, and I wanted to do research to help advance those changes. My research has shifted a bit from my original plan - which is somewhat inevitable - but the main themes are the same. I would say that if you don't have some sort of broad research question you want to investigate, and some inkling of how you want to make a difference in that field, this is not the right time for grad school. Those questions will come to you, but it helps to have time away from school for them to emerge.
I hope this helps. It might not be what you wanted to hear, but it also might save you a lot of heartache and angst.
This always strikes me as funny, because I never felt like I chose this path. Rather, it chose me. I became obsessed with a set of research questions that I could not put down, and that hauled me through two masters and most of my PhD.
Obsession is not without its costs, but lack of direction is not one of them. Today, a recent UCLA grad wrote, asking, in essence, "Should I go to grad school?"
What I told her might well be relevant to others, so I'm posting it here.
Should You Go To Grad School?
First, read this.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/gradschool.html
Next, take some time off. Get a job, an internship, travel, explore some career fields that might interest you.
After 3-5 years, apply to a PhD program, if you are still interested. But you might be so engaged in your job that you continue with that, or you decide to get a masters, or you go to law school, or you go traveling...
Seriously, I don't think it's a good idea to enter a PhD program right after college. I had many friends who did that when we graduated, and some friends here who were just out of college, and many of them were miserable. On the other hand, I worked for a decade before returning to grad school, and I'm loving it.
Grad school is really hard on many different levels, and the only reason to do it is because there's absolutely nothing else that you want to do. If you know right now that you want to be a professor, or do some kind of research that you can't do without a PhD, then go for it. But it doesn't sound like you have that kind of surety.
After working for a decade, I went back to school for a masters, at [Ivy League U]. In the course of that program, I began some research that I could not give up - and still can't. I leave tomorrow for Bhutan. I am devastatingly passionate about my research questions, and feel very lucky to be able to pursue answering them. But without some kind of burning fire, grad school is very very difficult. I chose [my university] because it has one of the best enviro programs in the country, and I had already been at [Ivy League U].
Most PhD programs fund you, with a combination of teaching and research assistantships, if you get in. That means you're working for a professor, but usually in a way that advances your studies, at least in the broadest sense.
I will likely end up teaching when I graduate, but my original plan was to work in international biodiversity conservation. There were particular changes that I wanted to see in the way that biodiv conservation happens, and I wanted to do research to help advance those changes. My research has shifted a bit from my original plan - which is somewhat inevitable - but the main themes are the same. I would say that if you don't have some sort of broad research question you want to investigate, and some inkling of how you want to make a difference in that field, this is not the right time for grad school. Those questions will come to you, but it helps to have time away from school for them to emerge.
I hope this helps. It might not be what you wanted to hear, but it also might save you a lot of heartache and angst.
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