Monday, August 6, 2018

98. Your family pays a price.

Few people choose to become parents while living the life of relative poverty that graduate school entails. If you go to graduate school, in fact, there is a good chance that you will never have children (see Reason 31). For women, the likelihood of childlessness increases with education. The U.S. Census reported that about 23 percent of women with a graduate or professional degree between the ages of 40 and 50 were childless in 2012. When it comes to securing tenure, women who do not have children enjoy a significant advantage over women who do (see Reason 71). Childless men are hardly uncommon in academe either. Graduate students who have children have described the difficulties of being a parent in graduate school. Likewise, it is difficult to be the child of a graduate student for many of the same reasons that it is difficult to be married to a graduate student (see Reason 58). The demands of graduate school are tough on parents and children alike, not to mention the debt, job insecurity, and relocations that are typically a part of the bargain. When the television personality Dr. Phil McGraw was 12 years old, his father was a full-time graduate student. The family made ends meet by delivering daily newspapers on a 52-mile paper route.

Whether you have children or not, you are still part of a family, and you probably like your family. Your family members like you, too. They may even be encouraging you to go to graduate school. If that is the case, they are doing so with the best intentions, but they likely do not realize that they are nudging you toward a career that will take you (and keep you) far away from them. It doesn’t matter where you live now or where you go to graduate school, because the very few jobs available to you at the end of the graduate-school pipeline will rarely be where your family is (see Reason 16). The enormous time commitment required to earn a PhD (see Reason 4) means that by the time you settle into a permanent faculty position—if you are lucky enough to find one—your parents will be reaching the age when they can most use your help. After years in school, you won’t have much in the way of financial resources to help them. In the worst-case scenario, you will still be dependent on their money (see Reason 12). And because you probably won’t live anywhere near your parents, your children, if you have any, will be far from their grandparents. There is no flexibility in the academic job market, so if you need to give up your job to be closer to people who need you, it will mean giving up your academic career. Contemplate your priorities carefully before you plunge into graduate school. Academic life can be as hard on the people you love as it is on you.



115 comments:

  1. I am happy to be the first to comment on Reason 98, because I speak from sad experience. My husband began his seven years in graduate school a year after our marriage. We postponed having children until he had his doctorate and a full-time teaching position, but when that position turned out not to be as permanent as we'd been led to believe, we were launched on a 14-year trajectory of short-term contracts, frequent moves, chronic financial stress, and constant uncertainty. Our children definitely suffered from the instability. (So did I, profoundly, but at least I was old enough to understand why it was happening.) By the time he finally gained tenure—in his fifth job, at age 55, at a university outside the US—both of our kids were in college. We were too far away to help our aging/dying parents and our newly graduated children when they needed us the most. I was never able to develop a coherent career of my own, because I pretty much had to take whatever paid work I could find in each new place. I adore my husband and can't imagine being married to anyone else, but I would never advise anyone, male or female, to marry a non-established academic. You have far too much to lose.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I myself was going down that route. My wife and I put off stating a family until I was done with my PhD. However, after two years into my PhD studies in which I became deeply depressed and jaded, I decided it wasn't the life for me. I jumped ship, made a career change, started a family, and got the hell away from what I thought was my destiny.

      To those contemplating the change, it is hard, but there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel. For me, at first I was depressed with the prospect of leaving the world of the mind. They really do brainwash you into thinking that there is no world that exists outside of it. However, there is a world, a beautiful one at that. Remember, you need to decide what's important and fulfilling for your life. If it is academia, then take the risk. But don't think you are less of a person if you decide to leave. There's nothing shameful in quitting.

      And thus leaving academia turned out to be a god send and I am much happier as a result. The only regrets are the time lost and the financial hit from the student debt I've incurred. Regardless, I'd rather be where I am at today then to have continued with my studies. Every day that I spend with my wife and two boys, I'm reminded by the best decision I made in my life: which was to quit the rollercoaster that is academia.

      Good luck and this blog helped me during that transition 6-years ago.

      Delete
  2. I spent seven and a quarter years in grad school, six years in postdocs, and a couple of years in temporary jobs; by the time I found a permanent position (outside of academe) and was able to get married, I was 40. Now that I'm at an age when my friends who did not go to grad school are retiring, I still have teenagers at home. I'm living far away from my aged parents and extended family. My children will never know their cousins as well as I knew mine. But you should see my list of publications! If I had it to do over gain I would not go the same route.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is the time that makes it not worth it. How did 7 years with 2-3post doc become normal? I know PhDs in their 80s who did 3 years and 40 page thesis. Then it became 4-5 and now 7 isn't uncommon. I was able to go back to school after 15 years of work and do it in 3 years. I was self funded and didn't need to spend 2 full years as a T.A. or lab rat. I then went back to industry though I did interview for some full time non tenure openings. If you can't finish in 4 years its not worth it. Even at e years I'm a Doctor doing a job that doesn't require the degree..and that honesty adds to my depression and frustration.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Life of relative poverty?" No, graduate school puts you on the path of poverty plain and simple. Crunch the numbers- you make as little as 200 dollars a month the months you actually get to teach as an adjunct (which may be only during the summer semester once a year.) Adjuncts turn to living in their car, prostitution, driving for Uber, selling their blood, or living in a homeless shelter, sacrificing everything just to feel at some level like they're still "part of the system." When will these people wake up and realize that the system will never consider THEM to be a part of it?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Another excellent reason, with sound, unimpeachable logic buttressing it. During my grad school days, I was between the ages of 35 and 40, and my mother was almost at her wits' end, even though she supported me in more than one respect. She lay awake nights worrying about my vocational and financial future, and she was deeply ashamed that her adult, Ivy-educated son had no permanent employment, no health insurance, and a broken-down car with scratched paint and a filthy interior.

    Worse still, most of the time I wasn't even enjoying my "studies," for I had fallen into the classic trap of grinding my teeth in the present while hoping that the next stage--whatever it was, another college, another fellowship, the brass ring of the imaginary tenure-track job--was right around the corner. The golden tomorrow never came, of course. At one point in graduate school, I was living out of a vehicle while on a "fellowship" at a large campus about 600 miles from home, and my mother was just beside herself, though there was nothing she could do.

    I didn't have any children (and still don't), so at least I didn't inflict any suffering in that regard, but what I went through was in and of itself far too much. Graduate school...such a mistake. You'd be far better off sitting around the house drinking beer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now,

      I'm in my early 30's still trying to get a STEM undergraduate degree. If corruption in academia is sooo bad in First-World countries, look at Colombia!! Corruption is rampant especially in elite universities.

      I'm single and childless as well, and sadly, some independent research I did ended up at the local military, as they appreciated my work so much more than academia on these last few years. TBH, that makes me want to choose a military career instead. Or even as a PMC once I get enough financial resources for my training.

      Once I get that degree, I'll be changing careers and decidedly go to low-tuition or non-tuition schools online where it's possible to have a degree and get a freaking life. Imagine some guy who has been doing quality grad work for military grad schools, and still does not have his Bachelor's because two universities have already tried to steal his work! yeah go figure!

      Delete
  6. Worst decision of my life, going to graduate school for the PhD. My mother used to say 'why don't you become a real doctor.?' She was wise beyond her years and HS education. Best decision of my life, leaving graduate school after 4 years for a real full time job.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad to see you back.

    I missed you, worried about you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you so much for this blog.

    Something has gone deeply wrong with HE.

    Don't wait another year, man

    ReplyDelete
  9. Finished a 2 year MA in 3 years, dropped out of my Ph.D. once I had M.A. in hand. Went to French school to learn French, my passion, and start my own trivia show company, my other passion, and got remarried. Now I have a full-time job starting with a decent pay while my cohort is still doing their Ph. D. after 7 years.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Please keep up with two more posts, and finish up this blog!
    I think this blog has so much good information about real grad school life, and all of post should be published!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. Please continue this bog until the 100 reasons are posted. I wish someone had written this 40 years ago.

      Delete
    2. While I agree that information such as what's presented on this website would have been useful to me while I was planning on returning to university to start grad studies, I doubt it would have dissuaded me from going ahead with doing so.

      Back then, I, like many people my age, thought that I would be one of whose who'd succeed. I bought into the image of grad school being a collegial environment in which I would be allowed to stride among the academic gods of my discipline.

      Boy was I in for a big fat surprise!

      I don't regret going all the way to my Ph. D. Getting my degree was, for me, a personal accomplishment. However, I never earned a dime from having it. On the other hand, now that I have my inheritance, it really doesn't matter now.

      For years, I wondered whether what I experienced was my fault. Looking back,some of it was, but it wasn't until the Internet came along, and I began reading stories about people who had similar difficulties as grad students, that I realized that academe is far from morally and ethically pristine.

      Delete
  11. Here's a new article in Chronicle of Higher Ed discussing this.

    https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Does-Graduate-School-Kill/244796?cid=wcontentgrid_hp_9

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The piece that the author of this article is leaving out—presumably because she hasn't actually started looking for work yet—is that the person who gets that elusive, full-time, professional-level job at the end of the grad-school treadmill will be precisely the person who *was* willing to work 17 hours a day and say "yes" to the "unnecessary extra opportunities." It isn't just grad school that rewards this kind of slavery; it's the academic world in general.

      Delete
    2. It isn't just academe that's like that. When I finished my undergrad studies with a brand-new B. Sc. in mechanical engineering, I started working for a large oil company.

      I was eventually transferred to my division's head office. When I asked about the overtime policy, my boss told me "We are professionals here--we work unlimited hours."

      Until then, my experience was that if one worked extra hours, one could take that time off for, say, holidays. But it wouldn't have been necessary to put in that overtime unless there was an emergency or an impending deadline.

      That, apparently, didn't apply with that employer. What it really wanted was cheap labour and the expectation of long hours was a way of determining who might make good management material.

      The company and I soon parted ways.

      Delete
  12. Though not directly related to this post, here's a Washington Post article discussing the cult of academia.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/academia-is-a-cult/2018/10/31/eea787a0-bd08-11e8-b7d2-0773aa1e33da_story.html?utm_term=.f12f23fa6300

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These things could be fixed if the accreditation bodies would do their f--king jobs and come down on any college using adjuncts as underpaid staff like a sledgehammer on a rock. The system only "works" because there is this giant gap between possible jobs and GS graduates able to fill them - destroy that and reality might return.

      Delete
    2. Plus-1 to Strelnikov's comment about the accreditation bodies. That's absolutely the only way the adjunct crisis is ever going to be solved, because they're the only ones with both knowledge of the situation and the leverage to affect it.

      The other people who could help are current faculty members. They need to start discouraging their undergraduate students from graduate study by explicitly telling them that they will NOT find academic jobs waiting for them at the end of the trail.

      Delete
    3. My first master's supervisor liked to hang onto his grad students because he saw them as cheap labour. In addition, he acted as if he paid us personally out of his own pocket and that we should have been grateful to work for him.

      If one happened to finish their degree, it was by accident and he made sure to never let it happen again. Taking the full period of time allowed by the university was common with him.

      But even if one went all the way to a doctorate with the hope of becoming an academic, what's the point? The hiring system is rigged. One won't be considered for a position unless one happens to be on very good terms with an insider or one is invited to apply, usually on the recommendation of someone inside the system.

      In addition, ads for faculty are written nowadays so that unless one happened to be a member of an "under-represented" or "oppressed" group, don't even bother. Actual ability or practical experience in the discipline in question are of little consequence.


      Delete
  13. Still want to go to grad school?

    https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/11/graduate-school-terrible-peoples-mental-health/576769/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been hearing mental health complaints from undergraduates from the stress and how college forces you to set up all of these time structures, deadlines, etc. because there seems to be a lot of handholding in high-school. We need to admit that we do college wrong for the wrong reasons and we need to change that.

      Delete
  14. This is the reason I left my PhD a few years in. The toll on my wife and daughter was enormous. If I had stuck it out I would probably no longer be married. Graduate school in the humanities is a terrible decision for most people.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I agree with many of the above comments. I just defended my PhD thesis this week, but the whole PhD process put so much strain on my relationship with my wife that she cheated on me with a friend of mine. We're trying to rebuild our marriage, but even with therapy there's no guarantee of success. No matter where things go from here, I'll have learned a much-needed lesson in life priorities. Don't let a degree blind you to what is truly important in life.

    ReplyDelete
  16. If you’re looking for an additional reason to add to your list, I would suggest the following:

    It’s difficult to transition out of graduate school if you receive a non-academic job offer while you are registered as a student. The timing has to be impeccable —you can’t simply put your two weeks in. You could imagine that nailing an interview during the fifth week of a semester in which you’re teaching doesn’t matter much if you’re unable to leave. To add to this, you’re not eligible for any unemployment benefits if you leave graduate school, since you’re not considered a full-time employee in spite of working equally or more than one. It seems like the best bet is leave grad school for any job in order to reduce the time you will be without income. You can start anew from there without the added psychological burden of knowing you have to finish a dissertation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To add to my comment: Nevermind that many of these non-academic offers will be temporary contracts or project-based (at least for a humanities student).

      Delete
  17. I like how the blog is ABD but taking forever.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hey where's #99 for 2019?!

    Thank you so much for this blog

    ReplyDelete
  19. Replies
    1. Just a pet theory of mine, but I don't think the author has stopped writing so much as s/he is making a statement regarding how the process of doing graduate school can turn into an endurance race, feeling as if it'll never end and merely drag on forever.

      If you look at the post timings -- disregarding the initial burst of activity in the first few years, of course -- new posts started appeared monthly, then quarterly, then yearly. Given the passing of this year's "deadline" I suspect reason #99 will show up sometime in the fall of 2020. As for the conclusion of the project? My bet is on the fall of 2024 (if it ever comes out at all!).

      Delete
  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NicholasDecember 24, 2019 at 2:08 AM (Corrected)

      "There is no flexibility in the academic job market, so if you need to give up your job to be closer to people who need you, it will mean giving up your academic career."

      No flexibility for over 90% of doctorates and non-doctorate adjuncts, but for the other 10%, there's beaucoup flexibility. Stars and PC "theorists" get cushy sinecures (with multiple offerings) for themselves AND their spouses. Affirmative action mediocrities not only get jobs they haven't earned, but get thousands of dollars in "moving money," while adjuncts get little over minimum wage, and often have to travel several hours a day and pay exorbitant amounts for two or three fares on public transit. Fortunately, I've been out of the antiversity for 21 years, though not by choice (I was whitelisted). I wanted more abuse!

      Delete
    2. I'm glad to learn that you've been out of academia for 21 years. I'm sure others feel the same.

      Delete
    3. http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2014/10/1178-nicholas-stix.html

      Delete
    4. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2020 at 11:19 PM
      Thanks!

      Delete
  21. Here's the an article on adjuncts in the UK. Is this really news to them?

    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/20/thousands-of-uk-academics-treated-as-second-class-citizens

    ReplyDelete
  22. *a tumbleweed crosses the screen*

    ReplyDelete
  23. Bueller? Bueller?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS6f1MKpLGM

    Seems that this blog is officially dead.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Here's a recent NY Times article on the situation:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/upshot/academic-job-crisis-phd.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

    ReplyDelete
  25. The NYT article is accurate as far as it goes, but it doesn't look far enough back. The decline in academic employment—in terms of both raw numbers and working conditions—goes back to the 1970s. It has certainly worsened since the 2007 economic downturn, but it was bad long before then.

    When the baby boomers began to hit college age, colleges expanded and hired to accommodate the influx. Once the boomers had gotten past that stage of life, the colleges still had their enlarged faculties. No need to hire as professors retired—their replacements were already right there. And when extra bodies were needed, they hired contingent faculty, so that they could easily downsize when the next period of contraction came along. All of this was already taking place in the '80s and '90s. I'm a boomer; I've been there to see it happening.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Here's an oldie but goodie from the 1982 Times:

    https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/10/education/gypsy-scholars-roam-academic-landscape.html

    I was a history grad student from 1979 to 1981. In retrospect, I'm glad I got out when I did. Several of the comments in the recent Times article do mention the problem has gone on for a good long time.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Reasons # 99 and 100: It takes forever to finish, and even when it looks like you are close to the end, there can be years left to go. A point poignantly made by the years-long absences between posts, extended now to 1.5 years+ or perhaps never.

    I came back after last reading this around 2018 to see if the final two reasons were posted, and am almost more satisfied that they haven't been.

    I think I started reading this back 10 years ago when I was fresh out of law school, shortly after I seriously considered academia as an alternative. Even graduating into an awful job market for lawyers, this helped me realize that it could have been way worse. Five years later my career problems were long in the past and some of my PhD friends still hadn't graduated. Not that I would do law if I was starting out now either, but it seems academia is really on its last legs as a profession. If this blog dissuaded a single person from going down that awful path, it did a major public service.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It dissuaded me of getting in the academic job market almost three years ago. Couldn't be happier, got a high paying job in industry, and am slowly undoing the damage of lost earnings during undergrad years.
      I am forever thankful for the author for exposing the lecherous cancer that is academia.

      Delete
    2. I started reading this blog when I was researching getting a PhD in accounting. There was lots of people saying there was a shortage of professors of accounting.

      I decided against it, and this blog was one of the key reasons why. Reason #96 was the one that basically ended any further thinking about this.

      Delete
    3. I heard somewhere that PhDs in accounting are the most lucrative PhDs to get. I think it was because accounting PhDs supposedly earn the highest salaries of any assistant professor (generally).

      Are accounting PhDs good for the private sector? Do they earn more there?

      I can't even imagine doing an accounting PhD. It sounds like metaphysics of excel spreadsheet columns.

      Delete
    4. PhD's in accounting don't have any demand in the private sector.

      In addition, the AICPA and other groups stopped funding full tuition fellowships for Accounting PhD's.

      If there was really a shortage, they'd be still doing that program.

      Add in the age discrimination for reason #96 on this blog, and I would never recommend doing it.

      Delete
  28. Reason 99: Coronavirus pandemics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. came here to say this

      Delete
    2. Seriously though. Quite a few schools let **tenured** professors and department heads go during the pandemic. If that's not reason enough to abandon one's PhD ambitions, I don't know what is.

      Delete
  29. I'm anon from April 22 and 23. Glad to see some people are still watching this space.

    There is alot of chatter about the impact of the pandemic on higher ed. See, e.g., a recent WSJ article saying 20% of liberal arts colleges facing closure:

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-pushes-colleges-to-the-breaking-point-forcing-hard-choices-about-education-11588256157

    The comments section is decidedly unsympathetic towards the pending unemployment of "diversity coordinators".

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anon April 22, 23, 30 back. Just randomly googled about diversity coordinators and found this horrifying data:

    "How much does a Diversity Manager make in the United States? The average Diversity Manager salary in the United States is $126,041 as of April 27, 2020, but the salary range typically falls between $108,330 and $152,599."

    https://www.salary.com/research/salary/posting/diversity-manager-salary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Colleges and universities say they “can’t afford” faculty members, but they somehow find money for new administrative positions.

      Delete
  31. Couldn't even finish a blog...let alone grad school or PhD...

    At least you could have put "reason 99: instant ramen", "reason 100: because I said so".

    Maybe it's a larger statement about academia. No finality.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it's like many projects in academe. There's no point in finishing something if it means working one's way out of a job.

      Delete
  32. I like the idea of the 100th reasons never being given, as symbolic of the never-ending projects that one embarks on in graduate school. But I wish there were a 99th reason. I think the current pandemic and its effects on academia provide one (or many) additional reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Maybe people will finally figure out that a real job beats being stuck in academia with no pay. The system will only change when people stop treating the scam like the best thing since sliced bread.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Everyone thinks he (or she) will be the exception, the one out of a hundred to get that sweet, sweet, faculty spot, with its 75% teaching, 50% research, 35% service committments, to say nothing about all of the committee work, advising, etc., and to possibly lose it all 5 or 6 years along during the tenuring process.

      Delete
  34. The tumbleweed bounces across the screen as you read this dead blog.

    Rest in peace, blog.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Thank you so much for creating this blog! You're performing such an important public service here :) I read the entries every time I have the stupid idea of pursuing a PhD (and will continue to do so). Thank you for sharing how doing a PhD in the humanities (and some social sciences) is such a waste of time and money! I don't know who you are, but I love you <3

    ReplyDelete
  36. Reason #99: By the time you're done, you may realize you don't wanna do it anymore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a very good reason. I hope the person maintaining this blog uses it for reason #99.

      Delete
  37. It is safe to assume that the author has been deceased due to the Wuhan Virus...

    ReplyDelete
  38. Please, please, please finish this blog! It's been a godsend for me. I was thinking about going to grad school to get a PhD in East Asian languages, but I decided to do something else. To say the least, I am insanely grateful I stumbled upon this blog, especially when I look at where my friends that did enter academia are now six years after finishing our bachelor's degrees.

    Keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Reason #99: Your advisors might not care about your dissertation (or your future).

    ReplyDelete
  40. Can't believe the author never finished this blog. Only two to go.

    The last two should be some kind of "I told you so" where everything negative listed in this blog got magnified 100x by covid. My god online teaching is hell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely....Zoom meeeting are draining and most of the students don't talk, they text in. Ray Carney (http://insidebostonuniversity.blogspot.com/) of Boston U. lives outside the city in an area with crap Internet, so he turned his film studies classes into all-email affairs with his students writing reams instead of this bizarre perfomative fart that is Zoom/two-way video streaming over the Internet. I think Carney was smart to do that. Meanwhile the colleges and universities are charging students for crap they can't use while they rot at home or in their brig-dorms.

      Delete
  41. I hope the author is ok. Definitely would like this blog to finish, but hope the person has survived covid and life, and is thriving. Hopefully we'll see a new post this year

    ReplyDelete
  42. Reason number 101: you never finish anything........

    ReplyDelete
  43. Indeed, the way the author has left this blog is a perfect parable of much thesis writing. The dissertation always seems 98% complete, there is only this one little thing that needs to be added or improved on, one last supervisor review...

    However, year after year, nothing changes and you are stuck in this 98% limbo. It becomes awkward, people stop asking about it and little by little you realise this is how it's going to stay.

    This is the most thoughtful ending this blog could ever have had and cudos to the author for this brave idea, as well as for the whole blog, which is a jewel to read.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Still care to go to grad school in the Humanities? Yale just released a study of its placement success for its Humanities PhDs.

    42% of History grads received tenure-track offers, 41% of English grads did, while Italian Studies placed 22% in tenure-track positions, and Renaissance Studies placed 14%. French and Philosophy did relatively well with 61% rates. East Asian Languages beat the field, with a 74% placement rate.

    The data is from Appendix 2: Data. Here's the link to the report:

    https://image.message.yale.edu/lib/fe311570756405787c1278/m/1/0bfeafd2-c069-43b3-b529-bd6a7460fb89.pdf

    Remember these rates are for Yale University PhDs who graduated from 2012 to 2017.

    Makes me rather glad I left History grad school and ended up in Accounting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And that is for Yale University.

      Imagine how bad the job market is for those who got their PhD from University of Low-ranking.

      Delete
  45. Here's a good take on the grad school mess:

    https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/06/01/first-generation-grad-student-laments-lack-career-opportunities-academe-opinion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Except for the author being a woman and attending a small liberal arts college for her bachelor's degree, this could be my story. I was fortunate enough to find a nonacademic position in my field only two years after my last postdoctoral fellowship ended.

      Delete
    2. Of course, she has a point, but I do not like how she eschews any personal responsibility for her predicament and puts all the blame on the university. Yes, they are jerks, no doubt about it, but the author was obviously intelligent enough to see through their bs. This is life, people care about their own interests, not about yours and they will not tell you the whole truth if it does not suit them. Academia is no exception. The sooner you realise that, the better for you.

      Delete
    3. Well, writing as a first generation grad student and undergraduate student, I am more sympathetic to her situation. Could she have known how to see through their bs? I don't know. I certainly didn't. I thought (naively) that universities have got to be on the up and up. And I was told from a very young age that more education would bring more rewards and a better standard of living. People from blue collar families, particularly those in which one or both parents left high school early (fathers for military service and mothers to get married) don't have that kind of knowledge or experience base from which to draw.

      Delete
    4. My point is, if you are clever enough to be in a grad school, you are clever enough to do your research and see your options for what they really are. Blue-collar background or not. Let's be honest with ourselves, for many of us grad school was a way of postponing the entrance into the adult world. But there's a price to pay. Rejecting responsibility for this personal decision and blaming the university stems from the same attitude. You assume university should treat you as a family member with a stake in your well-being, and not as a mere employee. Remember that only you are responsible for your happiness. I wish you the best of luck with your life!

      Delete
    5. Martin August 30, 2022
      “My point is...”
      You have no point. You are one of two substantial groups of commenters here. One is pc to the bone, but can’t understand what happened to them. The other is typified by you. You know nothing at all about the antiversity, yet you condemn people who have been screwed over by it for not being omniscient.
      When I was a teenager during the 1970s, at some school I attended, I recall seeing a sheet on the window of the administration’s office, showing the additional earnings one would accrue, based on how many years one attended college beyond high school.
      What “research” was one supposed to conduct? The experts all concurred: More education equals more money.
      Know-nothings like you always swoop down on the wounded and gloat, “You should have known better. It’s your own fault!”
      It doesn't matter what the context is; you live for such opportunities.

      Delete
    6. Oh my, maybe you should read more slowly instead of jumping to conclusions. "You know nothing at all" - well, I happen to do. I also did a PhD in humanities and found myself in the same position as the author. And I also agree that the system is deeply flawed and the universities are profiting from the warped perception people have of the PhD degrees.

      But I knew what was waiting for me after the PhD and knew it would be hard (it was). There simply was enough information available in the 2010s. You cannot blame your decisions on a window sheet from the 1970s and claim that you are clever enough to do a PhD, but unable to do basic research about your job prospects before embarking on such a programme.

      Delete
  46. Yup the China virus got the author. RIP

    ReplyDelete
  47. I check back here every once in a while and am somehow more amused by the fact the posts slowed to one per year, then one every other year, and now three years with nothing, than I think I would be by anything the final two could be. As others have pointed out it's kind of appropriate for the subject matter.

    Thanks to the author for always making me feel better about my decision to become a lawyer instead of try to go further in the humanities as an academic. I read most of this working at a nasty firm and was relieved that things could have been worse. Law is its entire own shitshow (especially for anyone starting now) but some of these posts had me realize the storm of bullets I dodged when I squeaked into law school a decade and a half ago.

    ReplyDelete
  48. William Pannapacker (aka Thomas Benton), who wrote those articles in Chronicles of Higher Education about how you shouldn't go to graduate school in the hunamities, is leaving academia.

    Here's the link:
    https://www.chronicle.com/article/on-why-im-leaving-academe?cid=gen_sign_in

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That should be spelled humanities. Sorry.

      Delete
  49. Reason # 99. Tenure is an endangered species.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/us/georgia-university-system-tenure.html



    ReplyDelete
  50. paywall. is there another link?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately not. I subscribe to the Times and thought that it still made a few articles free each month. Evidently, that's no longer the case.

      Delete
  51. It's a few years old, but given the season it's still worth sharing: "Critically Acclaimed Horror Film of the 2010s or Your Ph.D. Program?"

    https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/critically-acclaimed-horror-film-of-the-2010s-or-your-phd-program

    ReplyDelete
  52. Here's another one from William Pannapacker.

    https://www.chronicle.com/article/tenured-trapped-and-miserable-in-the-humanities?cid=gen_sign_in

    ReplyDelete
  53. Man the last two reasons should have to do with covid. Morale has sunk through the basement. At my school people are quitting I never would have dreamed would quit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Would you care to elaborate? Why is morale low, and, even so, are they quitting? I would imagine that profs would stay in place because:

      -it's still a reasonable comfortable job
      -few opportunities they could easily move laterally to
      -coronavirus problems are probably temporary, maybe it will be 3-5 years total. Why throw away hard earned tenure when you just need to hunker down a few years, getting paid to do the same thing, just more online or masked?

      And why precisely is morale low? Just because less teacher-student interaction? Again, it's the same job (same pay), just online, I would imagine.

      Would love to hear your further thoughts.

      Delete
  54. it appears the author has scrubbed due to the kung flu. Thanks to the PhDs in the Wuhan institute of virology.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Hey guys - anyone still reading...

    I followed this blog since early in my PhD. I can remember reading it in the computer lab about +10 years ago.

    The fact that the list of reasons is unfinished was cute about a couple of years ago. Now I'm worried about the author. Did he really die of the Wuhan Virus? I hope he's ok.

    Is there some way we can try to figure out his identity and see if he is alive to check on him? I know he wanted to be anonymous, but even in death?

    In other words - is there a way we can check to see that our beloved blogger is actually ok?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Someone is occasionally attending to this blog. Idiotic scam posts are removed within a few days of being posted. So, someone's reading and evaluating comments. I suspect that this blog is mimicking many Ph.D. students; it has left the building ABF (All But Finished).

      Delete
    2. or ABD - all but dissertation

      Delete
    3. I was trying to make a joke - ABF as a joking reference to ABD. Obviously I failed.

      Delete
    4. Maybe I should have written, "ABC - All But Completed" or "ABT - All But Two."

      Delete
  56. I have been following this blog with great interest (and some affection for the topic) since late 2010. I was fortunate to complete my doctorate in 2012. In the final slog, this blog (along with PhD Comics) provided me with a small haven of sanity. Every now & then I return here in the hope that maybe one more reason has been posted. An article in today's NYT seems to sum up where many of us are today: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/ucla-adjunct-professor-salary.html Best wishes to any and all grad students who are working hard to finish.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Same, I've been following this for years since I graduated high school. I did end up going to grad school, but I wish I didn't - I just didn't like the long hours and being underpaid compared to other industries. Plus most employers wouldn't even count graduate school as experience, they'd take people who have work experience first over someone with more schooling, etc. The "family pays a price" was really true for me, even though I don't have kids because my parents were sacrificing a lot to help me get through graduate school and I was barely making any income to contribute. In fact, my supervisor was in his 60's and just had a kid which is insane to me.

    ReplyDelete
  58. I was just talking to one of my colleagues about this very subject. I can only repeat my comments of August 6, 2018 (with one small typo corrected):

    "I spent seven and a quarter years in grad school, six years in postdocs, and a couple of years in temporary jobs; by the time I found a permanent position (outside of academe) and was able to get married, I was 40. Now that I'm at an age when my friends who did not go to grad school are retiring, I still have teenagers at home. I'm living far away from my aged parents and extended family. My children will never know their cousins as well as I knew mine. But you should see my list of publications! If I had it to do over again I would not go the same route."

    Oh, how I wish I had known then what I know now. It was a path to near-poverty and isolation (physical and social) that I had not anticipated. And in job searches, well, let's just say, "some animals are more equal than others," and leave it at that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Some Animals are more equal than others" that's racist

      Delete
    2. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” - George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

      Delete
  59. Taking so long to finish this list I can see why the (anonymous) author struggled so much with grad school. In any case, I completed a PhD in History in 5 awesome years at a public university, have a good federal gov job related to higher education (will be retired at 58) and have two lovely children, a boy and a girl. I was just able to take 12 weeks paid leave for the second child. I wonder to what extent this blog reflects the anxieties, insecurities, and limitations of the author more than anything else?

    ReplyDelete
  60. It certainly started with "the anxieties, insecurities, and limitations of the author," but it's perfectly obvious that his/her experiences have been mirrored by those of many other people over the course of the blog's existence. Your 5-year PhD was extraordinarily short, and would have been so even forty years ago. (Even back then, nine or ten years for a humanities PhD was considered normal.) Landing such a great job right out of the chute is also exceptional. I'm happy you've had such a positive experience, but please realize that you're in a very small minority. Most graduate students in the humanities and social sciences, no matter how talented and devoted they might be, cannot hope to duplicate your good fortune.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An evidence that the federal government is bloated

      Delete
    2. Thank you for your thoughtful comment, you've put it better than I could ever have. I also had a very good time doing my PhD in Philosophy and I ended up landing a wonderful job (albeit outside academia), but I know my experience is far from universal. I think understanding that your personal perspective is an unreliable source of generalisations is the main takeaway from humanities. This in turn makes me suspicious of the alleged success of the author of the previous comment.

      Delete
    3. @April W - Very classy and succinct response. The system is too bloated and too broken. People considering grad school in the humanities should really do something else.

      Delete
    4. At least we are seeing a decline in liberal arts and humanities PhD recipients over time. Probably could see that number drop to 0 and have no noticeable effect on the economy for a generation (when the old professors start to retire).

      Delete
  61. Excellent blog. Suggestion for reason #100: You'll have no one to blame but yourself. If you decided to pursue a Ph.D. after reading this blog, after listening to your advisors (many of whom have probably told you about the dire state of employment for PhDs), and after reading the by-now widespread news reports of adjuncts living in poverty, well, then, you'll have no one to blame but yourself when you find many of the conditions described in this blog to be very true for yourself.

    Good luck, all, and a word from someone (me) who made the very tough transition from Ph.D. program to industry: it can be done, and you'll secure a decent retirement and be able to start a family if you make the effort.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That’s just wild that we have so many people (I assume it’s mostly women, but I doubt unstable employment and student debt is good for a man’s reproductive capacity either) willing to essentially sign their life away in order to teach school. How many adjunct professors go home at night thinking that a bachelors degree and teaching job would’ve been a far better option?

      Delete
    2. I think that's an excellent suggestion for #100. You did it to yourself. Everyone thinks that he or she will be the exception. Few are. There's way too much information out now about how working on a PhD is tantamount to throwing away years of your life.

      Delete
  62. This blog is a great work (opus magnum).

    ReplyDelete
  63. I did PhD part-time while working full time. In all honesty, this was a great choice for me. I still earned decent money and did not lose years of salary. I did my PhD through a highly respected European university and completed it in 3.5 years. I am now earning 150,000 AUD in my related industry which is education and literature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well bully for you, bucko! Was your thesis on the performative aspects of internet trolling?

      Delete
  64. It is concluded that the author of this blog has passed due to myocarditis as a result of the COVID vaccine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The author last posted on August 6, 2018. The Covid vaccine came out in the spring of 2021, approximately two and a half years later. The author's last few posts indicates one new post about once per year. Consequently, one could reasonably expect new posts for 2019 and 2020, well before the vaccine became available.

      Perhaps your comment was made in jest.

      Delete