tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post8637048203736758641..comments2024-03-24T21:12:27.165-07:00Comments on 100 Reasons NOT to Go to Graduate School: 97. It steals your future.100 Reasonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13655155303350793785noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-4361284777931251662021-10-13T11:10:06.092-07:002021-10-13T11:10:06.092-07:00"As investor JL Collins explains, “you’ll win..."As investor JL Collins explains, “you’ll wind up rich” and “not just in money” if you simply spend less than you earn, invest the surplus, and avoid debt. "<br /><br />False.<br /><br />If you cannot keep a good paying steady job, none of this is possible. Most of these "financial gurus" avoid talking about this important thing - and have no solutions for career issues.<br /><br />Remember, we're in a blog that talks about how bad the academic job market is.<br /><br />PhD Accountingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-86748386857319791892018-07-17T09:07:13.751-07:002018-07-17T09:07:13.751-07:0035 years ago I fired my Ivy League graduate school...35 years ago I fired my Ivy League graduate school program at ABD, and Life turned out Fine!! It was a grand decision and made me very happy. I was fortunate in that my degree area was in economics, so jobs did exist in industry and government, and that is where I have been happily camped out. I would never encourage anyone to go to the university post the BA level anywhere in the Liberal Arts. The only post BA programs worth considering are vocationally-oriented in the sense of Med Law Vet Pharm MBA Schools where the University actually has an interest in getting you out successfully and employed, and even some of those are going rotten like what happened to Liberal Arts. Frankly, life of the mind is a devilish conceit. Stay Away. I wish this site and the internet was around in 1980. Lastly, do not let the academe define you. You are not a failure. The academe is! More people need to fire these universities by not going to graduate school or leaving them en masse. Randalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15245213517927355626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-88865106750563360612018-06-17T00:25:38.448-07:002018-06-17T00:25:38.448-07:00"Spend less than you earn" assumes that ..."Spend less than you earn" assumes that you're earning enough to pay the basic, necessary bills in the first place. If you're a graduate student or even an early-career academic, you're fortunate indeed if your income allows you to rent (not buy) decent housing and keep the electricity on. It's easy to be glib about savings when you have a surplus to save.April W.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-39003788844124798202018-06-14T21:18:17.075-07:002018-06-14T21:18:17.075-07:00In other words, you're saying that the majorit...In other words, you're saying that the majority of people's financial problems are due to them not being virtuous enough to spend less than they earn?<br /><br />That’s the case for a few people. However, there are a lot of consumers out there who get into trouble simply because they're not financially educated.<br /><br />Spending less than you earn is only the first step. I agree that people do need to practice austerity and moderation. I agree that people do need to spend less than they earn. That's foundational. <br /><br />But claiming that’s all you should do is also oversimplification at its finest.<br /><br />Let's forget about derivatives and speculation for a moment and talk about how ignorant people are of everyday financial transactions. People would be better off if they understood the fine print of their auto loans. People would be better off knowing how mortgages work and the different things they should keep in mind before buying a home. People would also be more inclined to save and live within their means if they were educated about how long it can take to pay off student loans and the different strategies for funding their college education. It would be nice if everyone could just save up to pay cash for everything, but there are certain, big ticket items that people need right away to live their lives. <br /><br />Now let's talk about saving/investing for retirement, which is another subject the American school system deemed not important enough to include in the curriculum. As the blogger mentions, you should invest at least some of your surplus. I see so many people get into trouble with individual stocks and other risky investments because they don’t really understand what investing actually is. Americans really need to have at least a basic understanding of how investments work, particularly low-cost, index funds and 401ks. People need to understand that they need to save, manage their risk, and be disciplined over the long term. So many people have been very disciplined when saving, but aren’t able to retire as comfortably as they had hoped (let alone buy a house) because their money didn’t take part in the gains of the stock market over the past 10 years. It’s true that interest rates are going up, but so is inflation. Having some money in diversified, low-cost funds tailored to your risk tolerance can make all the difference in ensuring that you can have a comfortable retirement. <br /><br />TL;DR<br />Spending less than you earn and practicing moderation/austerity both serve as vital habits to a healthy financial future. On their own, they don’t guarantee that you will financially thrive. People still need to be educated about the basics of personal finance, such as debt repayment strategies, investing, and retirement planning. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-28123187102193817572018-04-28T14:04:19.340-07:002018-04-28T14:04:19.340-07:00I did a masters, phd, one postdoc, and then got a ...I did a masters, phd, one postdoc, and then got a permanent academic job shortly after the postdoc ended. But even though i could be considered a "success" by modern academic standards, i have been left feeling disgusted by how long it took to get my first proper job as a permanent academic. I got paid generous scholarships and never went into debt, but i still wish i had got a job straight after my masters. Now i just want to retire as quickly as possible.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-12351184762364089682018-04-12T21:43:05.602-07:002018-04-12T21:43:05.602-07:00That's not surprising to me.
While I was at h...That's not surprising to me.<br /><br />While I was at his university, my first master's supervisor treated his grad students as cheap labour and acted as if he paid their TAships out of his own pocket. Everyone needing the maximum required time to finish their degree because he kept dragging things out.<br /><br />As for not caring what happens after graduation, I can confirm that as well. The only ones my Ph. D. supervisor was concerned about were those students who got jobs working in fields related to his pet project. That way, they could be a good source of papers and it would look good on his performance appraisal.<br /><br />He took particular interest in his favourite grad student with whom, I suspect, he was having an affair. She now has tenure at a university elsewhere in the country. I'm sure that he pulled a few strings to get her that job.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-6229237638517661372018-03-31T17:52:39.169-07:002018-03-31T17:52:39.169-07:00They called my university a PhD factory – now I un...They called my university a PhD factory – now I understand why:<br /><br />https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/mar/23/they-called-my-university-a-phd-factory-now-i-understand-why<br /><br />"PhDs are manufactured; they drop off the end of a conveyer belt, but no one cares what happens to graduates after that. All universities care about are the fees paid by students and the cheap labour they provide. This is the opposite of efficiency: no factory would mindlessly churn out goods that no one wants."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-18687509460013173592018-03-28T17:15:43.902-07:002018-03-28T17:15:43.902-07:00Thats great...
yet, what you must
focus on is gett...Thats great...<br />yet, what you must<br />focus on is gettn<br />to Seventh-Heaven.<br />I've already seen it.<br />Im an NDE.<br /><br />Follow us Upstairs...<br />God bless your indelible soul.-blessed b9, Catalyst4Christhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13650964620664544661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-39458922116268802102018-02-19T00:17:57.322-08:002018-02-19T00:17:57.322-08:00"However, for the vast majority of us who str..."However, for the vast majority of us who strive for some semblance of a decent life where we can buy a house without spending decades saving to pay cash, have a family, and make sure that said family is taken care of whether or not we're here to provide for them, it behooves us to learn more about the tools at our disposal to manage and grow our resources." <br /><br />Again. There is nothing to learn about finance other than two things:<br />1) earn 2, spend 1.<br />2) develop the virtues of moderation and austerity so that rule 1) is a piece of cake to follow.<br /><br />Before banking industry went berserk with speculation, people could make a decent living. Sound financial planning is made when thinking in terms of what you need and nothing else. You buy what you need for the reason you need it, not to bolster your ego. You buy a car because you need it to go from A to B.<br /><br />Finance in itself is extremely simple, it becomes complex when it is deviated from its original purpose and turned into a tool for speculation. This is at the core of the entire USA financial crisis; which has not passed, by the way. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-6368774590924221862018-02-11T12:09:37.990-08:002018-02-11T12:09:37.990-08:00One of the problems is that, unless one has an aca...One of the problems is that, unless one has an academic position, people won't take you seriously if you have a Ph. D., even if you have first-hand knowledge or experience with something.<br /><br />But, if one wanted to become an academic, it turns out that admission is more by invitation only and not on the basis of qualifications. That was a hard lesson I had to learn after I finished my degree. I, quite foolishly as it turned out, thought that my alma mater would be anxious to hire me because of my education and industrial experience. (Yeah, right.)<br /><br />The only time the university is anxious to talk to me and even addresses me as "Doctor" is when it wants money from me.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-20884133079265946582018-01-29T16:44:38.940-08:002018-01-29T16:44:38.940-08:00So, true. If I can go back to 5 years ago, I would...So, true. If I can go back to 5 years ago, I would not start my PhD. I lost the best years of my life for big nothing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-47636040491066602232018-01-06T23:32:26.766-08:002018-01-06T23:32:26.766-08:00This can't be entirely true. I worked in a sta...This can't be entirely true. I worked in a staff job (i.e., not as faculty or as a student) in one of the best German graduate programs in the US, between 1982 and 1986, and it was by no means the only such program in the country. (And no, they hadn't dropped their program in the 70s and then picked it up again. It's been in continuous existence since 1885.)April W.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-67891456935156045612018-01-06T03:44:24.585-08:002018-01-06T03:44:24.585-08:00I was very lucky. I was in a degree program in th...I was very lucky. I was in a degree program in the German Language sector and suddenly all the universities in the USA decided, back in 1974, in the middle of the Cold War, to end all high end German degree programs. So I left with no debt, luckily, and made a lot of money in the NY real estate markets instead.Elaine M Supkishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11611766336362701554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-86654785427413593942018-01-05T18:28:12.877-08:002018-01-05T18:28:12.877-08:00Thanks for the support! I hope for your speedy rec...Thanks for the support! I hope for your speedy recovery as well. <br />I would rather do another tour in Afghanistan than do another year in graduate school. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16659355301685625871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-44937458891461647102017-12-15T22:12:00.499-08:002017-12-15T22:12:00.499-08:00An even bigger joke is what my alma mater said abo...An even bigger joke is what my alma mater said about grad students, namely that their supervisors are to be regarded as "partners in research".<br /><br />Baloney! Most of my supervisors saw me as cheap labour to be exploited. My Ph. D. supervisor wasn't all that interested in my research and tried to scuttle it, hoping that I would be so desperate that I'd start over again on his pet project.<br /><br />I might have had an easier time if he hadn't spent so much time with his favourite grad student, who, I'm sure, he was having an affair with. She now has a tenured position at a university at the other side of the country. (Coincidence?) He, on the other hand, retired a number of years ago or, shall I say, he made it official as, considering how he handled my thesis work, he retired on the job.<br /><br />Fortunately, I had money of my own after it was all over, so I quit my teaching job at a tech college and lived off that while I worked on my research. Now that I've inherited my father's estate, I won't have to worry about funding ever again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-39676765073945151862017-12-13T20:38:50.032-08:002017-12-13T20:38:50.032-08:00I would like to thank WynnLloyd for the spot on co...I would like to thank WynnLloyd for the spot on comments. I managed to get through an Australian PHD early this year. Unfortunately eight years of criticism, duplicitous supervision and nasty nasty politicking took its toll and I'm in a position where the joy I should be feeling for adding to a body of knowledge is simply not there. Instead there are only irrational feelings of negativity and failure and constantly questioning of why get involved in academia at all. WynnLloyd's post is helpful to people like me as I realize I am not unique in taking a physiological hit in these undertakings. I read many PHD blogs and stories as part of my " PHD recovery therapy" and there are far to many people genuinely affected by the journey they have been on. Like WynnLloyd I have a job and good finances (and supportive family) - so I am not painting a picture of hardship or suchlike - and don't want to come across as a whinger. However, research and academia should not be about survival of the fittest where any thing goes - and if you don't like the heat get out of the kitchen. Maybe I'm unrealistic - but to many people are getting seriously hurt in this regime.Thanks WynnLloyd - sharing such experiences helps me contextualize what I am going through and I hope I can get better of days, months and years like yourself. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-59645541033246468702017-12-07T09:02:47.122-08:002017-12-07T09:02:47.122-08:00STEM PhD here. Can't agree more. Professors an...STEM PhD here. Can't agree more. Professors and Grad Schools don't give a damn about your future. They want young and fresh energy to move their career forward with the lowest amount of money. They tell you that 'you are making the world a better place! you are curing cancer' but NO you're not! these are cover stories for your miserable life. Most of them support more immigration! No wonder! they love cheap labor. If you don't get a job after PhD, they try to be nice to you and offer you Post-Doc! and another post-doc and another post-doc... Now you are 40 years old, and have ZERO money saved up. Grad school is a scam, don't do it. -STEM PhDAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-57468870255848477382017-12-06T19:57:18.475-08:002017-12-06T19:57:18.475-08:00I fully agree that even if you are determined and ...I fully agree that even if you are determined and lucky enough to finish your doctorate, there will be lasting effects. I'm no snowflake either, but after finishing, it took me four years to feel somewhat normal again (and I was fortunate to have a loving, supportive spouse, and a job to go back to).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-87714591696663742612017-11-27T09:47:02.551-08:002017-11-27T09:47:02.551-08:00If anything, he should do more to destroy it. We c...If anything, he should do more to destroy it. We can cut back on state and federal spending and help kids avoid mortgaging their lives. Of course, the leaders in the field can't keep their gravy train if they aren't convincing 18 year old kids to major in utterly useless humanities courses, so that they can spend their 20's in even more useless PhD programs with the carrot of being an "intellectual" hanging at the end of it all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-59929388433769539512017-11-25T18:40:37.436-08:002017-11-25T18:40:37.436-08:00Your future can be lost due to financial issues cr...Your future can be lost due to financial issues created by grad school, but even if you are in a relatively good position, grad school can still destroy your future in other ways. <br /><br />The abuse can leave a mark on you. It's been almost two years since I completed my dissertation and graduated. Yet I am still struggling with anger and depression related to abuse at grad school. <br />What really sucks is that I don't understand it; it would be one thing if I were a typical "snowflake" but that's not the case in my instance. I'm a veteran who has endured some very severe, life of death trials. Yet somehow grad school broke me down. It wrecked my confidence and totally made me more fearful than I was in moments of risking life and limb. There's something insidious about it that worms its way into your psyche. You can supposedly be a tough guy, but years of abuse, in which you have zero ability to retaliate or even defend yourself, will make it hard to recover. <br />I'm recovering, but it has taken active effort on my part, as well as the prayers and patience of friends and family. WynnLloydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13821290694969630977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-56657312357705443822017-11-25T18:23:33.185-08:002017-11-25T18:23:33.185-08:00He's already created a huge boom. Yet I doubt ...He's already created a huge boom. Yet I doubt even he can save graduate education. Not that he would even want to, though. WynnLloydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13821290694969630977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-86740267827345421352017-11-25T15:38:11.181-08:002017-11-25T15:38:11.181-08:00That's all fine and good, but most employers d...That's all fine and good, but most employers don't see it that way. I remember being turned down for a position simply because I had a master's degree. I, apparently, would have been, as the rejection letter put it, "bored" there.<br /><br />Several years later, after I had finished my studies, I had a similar problem but, by then, I had added another master's and a Ph. D. to my collection of degrees. No matter what I said, I couldn't convince the chap I met with that the skills and techniques I had acquired as a grad student would be useful to his firm. He was more afraid that I might have the audacity to pack up and leave when I chose to. (Never mind that he could have fired me whenever it suited him. Never mind that most employees have freedom of mobility. Indentured servitude was abolished generations ago.)<br /><br />Most employers that I've worked for wanted workers who little more than drones, moderately intelligent, marginally adept, docile and submissive with little imagination of their own. Actual skill and ability could prove to be detrimental to one's career prospects.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-90429866886816774792017-11-22T17:25:01.102-08:002017-11-22T17:25:01.102-08:00Another possibility for Reason 98: Academia takes ...Another possibility for Reason 98: Academia takes political correctness to an absurd level.<br /><br />A teaching assistant at a Canadian university faced significant backlash after she presented an excerpt from a televised debate featuring a well-known academic who refuses to use gender-neutral pronouns. She played the clip in a communications seminar, intending to provide some background on the issues of language and gender. When students complained, she was severely chastised by her professors. She subsequently went public with an audio recording of the reprimand, forcing the university to issue an “apology.”<br /><br />https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/laurier-apologizes-to-t-a-who-aired-debate-clip-on-gender-neutral-pronouns-1.3687914 <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-5475773617094686082017-11-15T22:00:10.390-08:002017-11-15T22:00:10.390-08:00If a person attends grad school for a PhD or DBA a...If a person attends grad school for a PhD or DBA and thinks that they will get a tenured job in academia, they have their priorities all wrong. There are just simply not enough of those types of positions available, and they are likely going to go to the graduates from the top-tier schools. I would recommend that instead of thinking of a graduate degree as the objective, think of it more as an accessory to an actual career. After earning a bachelor’s degree, people need to focus on their careers, get employable skills, and develop them over time. Getting a masters or a doctorate should be useful to someone to enhance their career prospects (for example, if a person is in social work, they should definitely pursue a masters, at a minimum), but should not be used to define it. Also realize that when you are working full time, some employers may help with paying the tuition, so that is a bonus to take advantage of. By focusing on a career, people can end up with money to pay the bills, food on the table, cars, clothes, savings, a 401k plan, health insurance, and have a roof over their head. It is the people who think that the graduate stipend is adequate that rely on Ramen noodles, are homeless, take out loans that overburden their future, or are forced to work as a sex worker to make ends meet to supplement their insufficient income.<br /><br />From my personal experience, I have worked ever since I graduated from high school. I earned my B.A. when I was 22, completed my MBA at 40, and have spent the last five years working on a doctorate that I should be finishing up in the summer of 2018—just after I turn 50. Although I enjoy learning immensely (to be honest, I do feel burnt out at times), I have embraced a normal career and have never deluded myself at any time by thinking that I would live my life in the Ivory Tower. It would be nice, but… the reality is that most people will work at a regular career like every other man or woman to get through life. Taken from this perspective, I encourage people to work on advanced degrees and better themselves so that they can make contributions to society or achieve self-actualization, but always realize where an advanced degree really fits into the scheme of normal life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4276812992911002375.post-67299824308338710012017-11-11T19:20:43.567-08:002017-11-11T19:20:43.567-08:00I don't think it's so much sadness and def...I don't think it's so much sadness and defeat they feel but more like the title of that old Peggy Lee song from some 50 years ago: "Is that all there is?"<br /><br />They got their dream job, for which many professors get paid quite well. (I know of one university where salaries can run into the low 6 figures. Nice work if one can get it.) They have tenure, which, for many, is the golden hog trough.<br /><br />What they don't have is freedom. They can't simply walk away from their faculty positions, regardless of how lousy those might be, without paying a price. Aside from losing their salaries, they lose their benefits and privileges. They may also lose social status as being a professor still carries a certain esteem.<br /><br />In the private sector, one may not have as much security but there is often much more flexibility not only with regards to what one might be able to work on but also how much money one can make. In addition, the working conditions are often much better--less bureaucracy, for example.<br /><br />There's a reason why many academics go into business for themselves.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com