Posted on 06/03/2020 8:49:43 AM PDT by karpov
Many college graduates think to themselves, “I don’t have any immediate job prospects that are attractive and I can easily get into grad school with the chance of eventually getting my PhD and then a tenured professorship; I guess that’s what I’ll do.”
If you know anyone in that situation, do him or her a big favor by suggesting a new book by Georgetown University philosophy professor Jason Brennan: Good Work If You Can Get It.
This year (at least before COVID-19 struck us), about 80,000 students were planning to begin doctoral programs, but, Brennan cautions, “most are destined for disappointment.” That is because only about 20 percent of those students will ever obtain any faculty position, much less the coveted tenured professorship at a good school. He wrote the book to guide the many would-be professors who are “clueless, naïve, and misinformed about what grad school and academia are really like.”
There has been a crying need for a book like this for many years.
Something needs to offset the perverse incentives that current professors have to encourage as many sharp students as possible to consider going for a PhD and the benefits it might bring. After all, grad students are themselves a valuable resource for senior faculty, who often give students an unrealistically optimistic view of the path ahead of them.
In the U.S., the PhD is poorly suited to students who thirst for self-discovery and personal enrichment.
It is a professional credential meant to train new college faculty. If you don’t relish the prospect of spending loads of time doing what faculty members are expected to do—teach, grade, counsel, and write, write, write—then you should try something else, Brennan advises.
Moreover, most programs are not well designed to prepare new professors.
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
I say go for it. You might end up on an island with Ginger and Mary Ann.
Grad school? What about the 4 year waste of time?
I am in my late 50’s.
I had a pretty successful career, then started my own business and pretty much retired a few years ago.
I decided it might be fun to get a job to keep me busy.
The interviewer, in her early thirties, asked me why I never got my MBA.
I told her I kept getting promoted until I was a Corporate Senior VP at 40—I didnt have time to go back to school.
She did not think that answer indicated enough “motivation.”
MBAs are the same as a 4 year degree. And when I was a kid, the 4 year degree was pretty much what a high school grad was in the early 60’s.
Soon we will need a PhD in order to sell crap door to door.
I would only go for the hard sciences. Engineering, physics, chemistry, medicine, ect…
Years ago I came across a web site dedicated to newly minted PhD. Boy did I have my eyes opened.
Many had spent years to achieve their goal (getting a PhD) but gave no though to what came after.
Most expected automatic employee as a tenure professor!
Most could not find employment.
I quit reading the site since it was too depressing.
LOL! Exact same thing happened to me. I always said if I need an MBA, I'll hire one.
Yep. They keep bringing in H1B trash. While qualified Americans with advanced degrees are working minimum wage jobs at Kroger or Safeway
My kid went to grad school for a PhD with the intent of going into business.
The Grad school teachers do not like that! They expect you to go on to be a teacher at a school. If you want to go the private route, keep that to yourself.
She did not think that answer indicated enough “motivation.”
____________________________________________
Wow....did she actually tell you that?..talk about chutzpah.
Oh, like Dr. Wang, Dr. Land, Dr. Bose, Dr. Edgerton, ...
That same scenario is playing out in NJ with any unionized teaching job; plenty of people want an easy major to get a cushy job working 180 part-time days for great salaries and benefits (with no performance metrics or consequences for failure). It is so cushy that old people stay on (with no effort), preventing young gibsmedats from getting into the field.
On top of that, any higher education (including from BS diploma mills) adds to your salary automatically due to union work rules - even if you teach pre-K or gym.
And A.I.
I’d simply say, if you’re white or Asian, don’t waste your time thinking any university will make you a full professor, much less tenured.
Great story.
The guy that owns this business only has a high school diploma.
Given that many colleges are going to close because of coronavirus and low birthrates, it doesn’t make sense to spend the extra money for a PhD. Of course colleges won’t tell students that because they want their money.
Yep, “credentialism” at it’s worst.
<>The academics up the ladder who will decide whether to hire or promote you aren’t going to read, much less evaluate, your work.<>
Much like Free Republic.
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