The easiest way forward
January 6th, 2011 at 8:46 AM ^
Got married in St. lucia and was worth every penny.84 degrees every day and not a cloud in the sky(in january). If you ever get the chance, do the all-inclusive with Sandals.You won't be disappointed and right now they've got some great deals going on.
January 6th, 2011 at 12:09 AM ^
Well said, you have to have that mentality for a life of certain poverty. It is the only reason I haven't given up on the profession yet.
January 6th, 2011 at 1:01 AM ^
Keep the faith brother! Haha. Random, but for some reason I pictured you way, way older. Probably because of your avatar, lol.
January 5th, 2011 at 11:27 PM ^
Moe has all the Gator Bowl gear 50% off:
January 6th, 2011 at 2:21 AM ^
Sweet Jesus, put that hell fire feline out of its misery!!!
January 5th, 2011 at 11:46 PM ^
EDIT: immediately regretted that one.
January 5th, 2011 at 11:53 PM ^
January 6th, 2011 at 2:14 AM ^
Sources say many top Medical and Law school candidates are reconsidering their commitments to Michigan's 2011 class. " I think I'll wait until the new Dean is announced to see if Michigan is still on my list " said Brain McSmartie at the annual East-West all star Quantum Mechanics finals. Another, unnamed source says top Surgery recruit Blade Wecuttem may now go to Harvard instead, since " the Spread " dissection method in Anatomy there is a better fit. Many who have already spent their Freshman year Redshirted may defect to Ivy League schools happy to have them, though they will have to sit out the mandatory year before they will be eligible for the Nobel Prize. In other stories MSU grads have impressed first grade teachers with their ability to pronounce several three letter words..
January 6th, 2011 at 6:37 AM ^
What I'd do is the following:
1) think long and hard about why you want a PhD. It's not exactly glamorous spending your twenties (and thirties) in the library.
2) make a ranked list of the best programs in your field if you want to be a prof - your advisors will certainly help you with this.
3) read about the parlous state of the academic job market - which is resembling fight club right about now (check out inside higher ed.com and chronicle.com)
4) think about how much location matters to you relative to the quality of the program and its placements.
Good luck!
January 6th, 2011 at 7:34 AM ^
I second this advice. I was very naive about the academic environment when I was applying for doctoral programs and when I enrolled in Rackham. What Moe Greene says is 100% true. I entered graduate school to get the required training to be an educator in biochemistry at the high education level, specifically at a liberal arts college. I was all gung ho about GSI'ing and getting experience. What I didn't realize that your focus in grad school is about learning the skills to be a competent researcher, something I really have no interest in. Well I tortured myself for 5 years to the point, where I said eff it and dropped down to a masters level so I can graduate this april and then enter michigan's school of education. My advisor's lifestyle sucks. He is up for tenure review soon and he is always in his office writing grant proposals and revising our manuscripts we submit for publication. I don't want that lifestyle. If you enter grad school be ready for spending 8 am to 2 am days in the lab or library.
January 6th, 2011 at 8:57 AM ^
You must really have a passion and burning desire to be in the academy, especially if you're pursuing a PhD in a field where a PhD doesn't open doors in the private sector (ie, econ, hard sciences, political science to a certain degree). In fields like history (my field), you have to be willing to work and teach at small colleges you've perhaps never heard of.
To put some numbers on the job market stuff that Moe mentions, my department will get about 150 applications for 3-4 spots in our American history doctoral program, and around 250 for a job posting in American history. On the job market, you will have almost no say in where you live if you want to have a chance to get a job.
I would go so far to say that in academic subjects like history, english, soc., anthropology, you shouldn't even waste your time applying to a place like Alabama, unless you want to teach within the state. There are about 20-30 schools that will make you competitive for most jobs (for some jobs, the number drops to 4-5), and you need to figure out whether anyone at those schools does the type of work you want to do. Not to mention that the work conditions for doctoral students at places like Alabama are notoriously bad, with students teaching lecture courses on their own and receiving very little in the way of compensation.
January 6th, 2011 at 7:59 AM ^
Think long and hard about the tenure process for professors and whether you want to run that gauntlet. Even my advisor who has an endowed chair and a vita that's two miles long thinks this process is a harrowing nightmare.
January 6th, 2011 at 9:00 AM ^
I was driving into work this morning and listening to Mike and Mike. The said that Ross and the Miami Dolphin brass were flying out to meet with Harbaugh. They talked about what poor etiquette this is on the aprt of the Dolphins and Harbaugh as Miami has not even fired their current head coach. It is an unwritten rule that coaching candidates do not talk with teams that currently have a head coach. They most certainly do not meet with them. I am kind of ashamed of Harbaugh on this one. Also Mike and Mike said that the word is that Ross is going to offer Harbaugh 7-8 million per year. If that is true than the NFL owners are idiots. You are telling me that you are going to offer that kind of money to a college coach with little to no NFL experience. That is just crazy and highly insulting to current NFL head coaches. I have nothing at all against Harbaugh and if someone offered me that kind of money i would take it too.
January 6th, 2011 at 10:02 AM ^
They have the best experimental fiction program in the country (or Syracuse depending whether you're more of a formalist and want to study with Martone or a absurdist and want to study with Saunders...)