When I was early in my graduate program in a small college town, I used to say that my sojourn in a small town would be temporary. I'd get through my program, land that degree, and I would go on the market and look solely for jobs in big cities, and in a part of the country where I'd be able to stay close to my friends and family.
The reality of the academic job market looked much different. For every hundred job posts in my field, there were probably only 30 or 40 that were in geographic locations I'd consider living. Among those 30 or 40 jobs, there were only a small portion that were either open to any specialization or that were specifically looking for someone with my specialization. Some of those 30 or 40 were at the type of schools that I didn't want to work at or wouldn't be qualified to work at under any circumstances (don't misunderstand the market ... the ranking of your graduate program matters).
If there were thousands of job listings out there that were being constantly updated and refreshed, this might not be a big deal. But the academic job market has gotten tighter and tighter each year, with fewer and fewer jobs posted every season. So you'r not choosing between hundreds of jobs if you limit yourself geographically. You're choosing between "tens" of jobs.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
A Note About Cutting Medicaid Funding
Okay, as it turns out, I know a thing or two (or 100) about health care in the US. I’ve worked in the industry for years, and I’m a bit of a policy wonk.
So … states are cutting Medicaid funding. On the surface, this probably sounds great to a lot of people. Poor people, getting a handout from the state/federal government while the rest of us have to pay out of pocket for our health insurance? Screw them.
What these people don’t understand, though, is that cutting medical assistance to the poor is going to harm all of us financially in the long-term by increasing costs across the board.
Don’t believe me? Here’s how it works…
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Two Quick Things
(1) It's now been about two months since I decided to pack up and leave academia. Originally, I thought that it might just be a phase - that once I gave myself the "okay" to take a few months off and the permission to leave if I wanted, that I might find myself missing research/teaching and wanting to go back to it. I thought I'd feel the itch to work on a paper (even if I couldn't stomach my dissertation) or to seek out a teaching opportunity for the summer or fall.
Well, I don't. I don't miss it at all, any of it. Not one bit. I haven't been back to my department, haven't pursued any teaching opportunities, and haven't so much as opened a research file to work. And haven't missed it one iota.
That's not to say I'm not doing interesting things. I've started this blog, for one. I've also read two very interesting books related to my field in the last two months ... not related to my specialty area, but just in my field. Remember how I said that I love learning? Yeah. I love learning and reading. I don't love my research. And right now, my part-time job ends like any other job, and I'm free to go home and pursue my hobbies and interests, like a normal person. No more working late into the night, or guilt about whether I'm working enough. I do my work and go home to do my thinking and reading on whatever I want. And it's glorious.
People in other jobs would probably laugh at me saying that I don't miss my old job ... they'd say "well, of course you don't miss it! Who would miss work? Who loves their work?"
But that's the thing I've learned about academia. It's expected not just that you'll do your job, but that you'll love your job. And really, with such an uncertain job market, low pay, and the likelihood that I'd wind up living and working somewhere I'd hate ... why should I continue down this path if I don't love it and don't miss it?
Well, I don't. I don't miss it at all, any of it. Not one bit. I haven't been back to my department, haven't pursued any teaching opportunities, and haven't so much as opened a research file to work. And haven't missed it one iota.
That's not to say I'm not doing interesting things. I've started this blog, for one. I've also read two very interesting books related to my field in the last two months ... not related to my specialty area, but just in my field. Remember how I said that I love learning? Yeah. I love learning and reading. I don't love my research. And right now, my part-time job ends like any other job, and I'm free to go home and pursue my hobbies and interests, like a normal person. No more working late into the night, or guilt about whether I'm working enough. I do my work and go home to do my thinking and reading on whatever I want. And it's glorious.
People in other jobs would probably laugh at me saying that I don't miss my old job ... they'd say "well, of course you don't miss it! Who would miss work? Who loves their work?"
But that's the thing I've learned about academia. It's expected not just that you'll do your job, but that you'll love your job. And really, with such an uncertain job market, low pay, and the likelihood that I'd wind up living and working somewhere I'd hate ... why should I continue down this path if I don't love it and don't miss it?
Monday, April 4, 2011
If You Feel Like These People, Get Out NOW
In my weekly Sunday night googling, I came across the following blog post and comment thread about when you should consider leaving graduate school.
http://phdtips.blogspot.com/2009/04/when-to-quit-your-phd-program.html
I spent about an hour going through all of the comments. Note that the post was made in April 2009, and people are still leaving comments, two years later. The comments are heartbreaking.
People write of being miserable, of having lost all of their self-esteem, of being isolated and depressed, of interacting with unhelpful professors and catty grad student colleagues. One person even mentions feeling suicidal. Almost all of them mention that they feel guilty about leaving, or that it will make them a failure.
I mean this from the bottom of my heart - if you can relate to these comments ... if you are as miserable as these people are, and it lasts for more than a few days or weeks ... just go. Drop out.
You are a highly intelligent, motivated, self-driven person who successfully graduated from college and perhaps a masters' program, and now beat out hundreds of other applicants for a position in a Ph.D. program.
You are smart, capable, and accomplished. And you have options.You do not need to stay in a job or program that makes you miserable.
It does not make you a loser or a failure to leave. It just means that you tried a new job, and you didn't like it. And what do you do if you get a new job and hate it? You start looking for a new job. A Ph.D. program is no different than any other job. Do not let your advisors or other graduate students convince you otherwise. It's a job, and it's not for everyone, and if you are miserable you should leave.
http://phdtips.blogspot.com/2009/04/when-to-quit-your-phd-program.html
I spent about an hour going through all of the comments. Note that the post was made in April 2009, and people are still leaving comments, two years later. The comments are heartbreaking.
People write of being miserable, of having lost all of their self-esteem, of being isolated and depressed, of interacting with unhelpful professors and catty grad student colleagues. One person even mentions feeling suicidal. Almost all of them mention that they feel guilty about leaving, or that it will make them a failure.
I mean this from the bottom of my heart - if you can relate to these comments ... if you are as miserable as these people are, and it lasts for more than a few days or weeks ... just go. Drop out.
You are a highly intelligent, motivated, self-driven person who successfully graduated from college and perhaps a masters' program, and now beat out hundreds of other applicants for a position in a Ph.D. program.
You are smart, capable, and accomplished. And you have options.You do not need to stay in a job or program that makes you miserable.
It does not make you a loser or a failure to leave. It just means that you tried a new job, and you didn't like it. And what do you do if you get a new job and hate it? You start looking for a new job. A Ph.D. program is no different than any other job. Do not let your advisors or other graduate students convince you otherwise. It's a job, and it's not for everyone, and if you are miserable you should leave.
Even though...
Even though I’m happier now than I’ve been in years…
Even though I sincerely felt relief when the last school I interviewed with chose another candidate, thus ensuring I was going to be unemployed in academia next year…
Even though I realize I like my part-time job better than my dissertation (and I don’t like my part-time job THAT much, so that should tell you how much I hated my dissertation)…
Even though I don’t miss teaching, and that was the one thing I said I really liked about academia…
Even though I’m a far better partner and friend now that I don’t have constant stress and guilt hanging over my head about the work I *should* be doing…
Even though my family and close friends are supportive…
Even though I love my free time, and the fact that I can read, and write this blog, and spend time with friends, and go to work like a normal person and then be DONE FOR THE DAY…
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Programming Note
Apologies to anyone who has the blog on an RSS reader, and who saw it go crazy tonight. I am having a really epic battle with blogger, and keep somehow posting multiple copies of the same post or having the formatting go all wonky when I try to edit.
Rather than continuing to fool with it, I am going to pull down the post that is going apesh*t on me, and will re-post it tomorrow. Apologies to anyone who was having difficulty reading the posts or clicking through. I'll re-post tomorrow along with a couple other posts I've been working on.
Rather than continuing to fool with it, I am going to pull down the post that is going apesh*t on me, and will re-post it tomorrow. Apologies to anyone who was having difficulty reading the posts or clicking through. I'll re-post tomorrow along with a couple other posts I've been working on.
Introducing the "Reasons I'm Leaving" Series
I think I’m going to introduce another series … I’m going to call it the “Reasons I’m Leaving” series.
I’ve written about how I’ve felt completely ecstatic since making the decision to leave academia. Now, I’m still not entirely sure what job I’m going to do or (obviously) where I’ll wind up, but I know without any doubt that this is the right decision for me.
And it hit me that some of you out there reading this blog (according to my stats, there are more of you googling “reasons to leave academia” than even I expected!) might be trying to figure out whether you’re alone in the reasons you think you might want to leave.
Well, first of all, you probably aren’t. Check out my blogroll and the first couple of posts for links to different sites and articles I found helpful. You are not alone in having doubts. Now, whether you actually wind up leaving is completely up to you.
But despite what the faculty and happy graduate students in your department tell you, it is perfectly normal to have some doubts or to think about leaving. It’s normal. And I’m going to tell you what my reasons are.
In the meantime, feel free to leave comments telling me your own reasons for considering leaving. Trust me … it’s incredibly cathartic just to say them out loud and give yourself the okay to feel this way.
It’s okay to feel this way. Being a professor is not the only worthy career out there. And even if it's the worthiest of all worthy careers, it's okay if you decide you'd rather be happy than to continue on with a career that you no longer enjoy.
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