Not everyone is suited to teaching, but for those who are, getting a PhD can lead to a tenured position at a university or college, with a nice salary, a teaching or research assistant to help with workload, consulting opportunities partly shared with your department , and a nice pension upon retirement. Work on advanced projects.
For example, the computer scientists who delved early into computer graphics set the standards for much of the CGI technology used in movies today. Access to advanced equipment and tools. In a similar vein, entering a grad program could mean having access to advanced equipment on campus—such as the astronomy lab, supercomputers, rare books, and even great minds.
Higher potential for future promotion. While obtaining a graduate degree does not necessarily always lead to a high-paying job right away, it can open up opportunities for future promotions. Not being stuck behind a desk. If you have the necessary education to qualify for a high-ranking position in your chosen industry, it means that you often have the option of not sitting behind a desk all day. You might go meet colleagues or clients, travel, or even play golf in the afternoon on a nice day.
Employer incentives. Some large corporations have funds set aside that will pay partial or full fees for qualified employees. Be part of a chain of knowledge. You become part of a chain of knowledge. Because you want to. To learn, to think critically, to accept the academic challenge.
To stand out. By attending grad school and completing a degree, you join an elite segment of the population. Free tuition. In some cases, grad schools might not only waive your tuition, but also give you a stipend for living expenses in return for taking on the work of a teaching assistant or research assistant.
Realization of interest. Not everyone realizes during undergraduate studies that they are suited for grad studies. Some of your professors might recommend it to you and offer to supervise—with tuition waived and a research assistant position to cover expenses. Now for the flipside. Completing a grad degree has many rewards, as indicated above. However, there are also many reasons not to go. Highly competitive. Graduate programs always have fewer spots than undergraduate programs.
One of the reasons for this is said to be a fear of going out into the workforce. Requires ability to set priorities. Successfully completing a grad degree requires a great deal of discipline and priority setting.
This can be a strain on family and personal relationships, not to mention yourself. Relationship strains. Emotionally exhausting. Completing a graduate degree, especially a PhD, requires emotional maturity. Writing a thesis. Some grad programs require writing a thesis on a topic that your degree supervisor picks out for you. Writing an original thesis is not easy compared to course work, and it is often the reason grad students take a lot longer than program duration.
Requires support. You might need a strong support network to get through emotionally. Might take 2—7 years of your life. Not everyone finds they can complete a grad degree in the typical 1 or 2 years. Personal obligations often intrude or lack of finances makes it difficult. Extra cost of education. Graduate schools can be very expensive. If you are not going to work during your studies or will not receive an assistant job and waived tuition fees, the cost of your education is going to mount.
Graduating with a large debt. This state of financial affairs might push you into accepting any job after graduation out of necessity. No guarantee of higher salary.
Return on investment might be slow. Even with a higher salary, how quickly will that offset tuition loans and the negative cash flow due to not earning while studying?
Limited job opportunities. If the degree you get is in an academic field, finding work outside of teaching or research may be difficult, and thus, not necessarily worth it to you. Your classes themselves will also be more self-directed. While many undergraduate professors provide constant deadlines for big projects e. While you will get more guidance toward the beginning of your program, by the end of your first year you will be expected to have some fresh ideas about potential research or scholarly projects with potential to contribute knowledge to your field.
In college, the most important thing was performance in your classes. In graduate school, classes are just the beginning — and frankly, one of the least important aspects of your program. Good grades are commonplace and expected. The quality of your ideas and your research will be a far bigger part of how your advisor and other professors perceive you within the program than your performance in classes.
Even at a small college, you might have been one of a hundred other students in your major, while at large universities there are thousands of students in every department. The faculty in your department will form opinions about you based on the way you act, think, and speak in classes and at departmental events and meetings. This is good — and necessary! You also want to be at the forefront of their mind just in case the perfect job for you crosses their desk or email inbox.
Many college undergraduates become highly engaged with the life of their campus — joining campus groups, cheering the football team on Saturdays and hanging out at campus hotspots. While some graduate students are more active than others, in general graduate students are less involved in the social life of the campus and more involved in their department as the hub of their experience in graduate school.
Most of the people you interact with on a daily basis will be other students and faculty members within your department, to the point where you may find yourself completely unfamiliar with faculty and practices in other departments at the same school. Graduate student organizations do exist, but typically they meet less frequently and tend to focus on different things than typical undergraduate social clubs.
Graduate students are overworked, isolated and poor. In my field of history, we also tend to read an absurd amount about destruction, death and disaster. My program has an incredibly supportive graduate community -- the people are a large reason why I came here -- yet depression among grad students is still rampant. Our heads are savagely hit with the fact that our aspirations to become professors are increasingly ludicrous in the face of a dismal job market.
And yet we push on. While depression is prevalent, so too is resilience. Flexibility is vital. I had read Gay New York cover to cover. I had a concrete list of questions, and, by God, I had no intention of diverting from that list. Class discussions need frameworks; they need signposts. I had to learn to be flexible and adaptable. In our profession, Ph. We are often perceived as being on the lowest rung of the totem pole, constantly scrounging for publications and relentlessly networking.
Again, I hope these lessons prove helpful to others in a position similar to mine. With the first semester of my Ph. Tim Seiter is a Ph. He is writing a history of the Karankawa Peoples of Texas. Expand comments Hide comments. View the discussion thread. We have retired comments and introduced Letters to the Editor. Share your thoughts ».
About Contact Subscribe. Career Advice. Tim Seiter shares insights after his first semester. By Tim Seiter. January 29, Bio Tim Seiter is a Ph. Read more by Tim Seiter. Inside Higher Ed Careers Hiring? Post A Job Today! Most Shared Stories Ex-dean at Southern California indicted for bribery Inside Higher Ed Satiric look at this year's implicit bias module season opinion Inside Higher Ed Higher education should prepare for five new realities opinion Inside Higher Ed Suit claims department chair shielded serial sexual predator Faculty call for reinstatement of acquitted professor.
You may also be interested in Opinions on Inside Higher Ed. Spring Forward. Resisting the Panopticon. Veterans Day, November Friday Fragments. Learning Innovation. In-Between Times. Higher Ed Gamma. Can These Colleges Be Saved?
0コメント