Grad School Advice books
Apr. 19th, 2012 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI've been reading a how-to book about grad school. I've decided I need to try to find another one, because this book is a) twenty years out of date and b) EXTREMELY ALARMING.
Book: Grad school is extremely difficult. The hours are long, the pay is low, the social milieu is unsupportive, and writing a thesis is like having a root canal that lasts a year and a half.
Jin: ...well, this will be good for me. I've had insufficient adversity in my life.
Book: If losing a spouse causes stress levels of one hundred, then the average grad student has stress levels at THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN.
Jin: ....
Book: Unless you grew up in a war zone, grad school will probably be the worst thing that ever happened to you.
Jin: !!!!!
The author went to grad school during grad-school-as-cage-match era, when professors often kicked off grad school orientations by saying, "Look to the right of you. Look to the left of you. By the end of this Ph.D program, only one of you will remain. Bwahahaha!" (The evil laughter was probably only implied.) Now that schools are proud of their retention rates, rather than their attrition, presumably things are a little less hardcore?
Book: Grad school is extremely difficult. The hours are long, the pay is low, the social milieu is unsupportive, and writing a thesis is like having a root canal that lasts a year and a half.
Jin: ...well, this will be good for me. I've had insufficient adversity in my life.
Book: If losing a spouse causes stress levels of one hundred, then the average grad student has stress levels at THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN.
Jin: ....
Book: Unless you grew up in a war zone, grad school will probably be the worst thing that ever happened to you.
Jin: !!!!!
The author went to grad school during grad-school-as-cage-match era, when professors often kicked off grad school orientations by saying, "Look to the right of you. Look to the left of you. By the end of this Ph.D program, only one of you will remain. Bwahahaha!" (The evil laughter was probably only implied.) Now that schools are proud of their retention rates, rather than their attrition, presumably things are a little less hardcore?
