A recession is typically a good time for graduate schools. Their application pool goes up because people see them as safe shelter from the storm. The scariest part of a down economy is the idea of having no income. Of course, graduate school does not solve for that. But graduate school does solve the second most scary thing about a bad economy: lack of a learning curve.
The more desperate you are for a job, the more likely you are to take a job that doesn’t teach you what you want to learn. And then you get to that job and you think, “Grad school could solve this problem.” But in fact, grad school creates larger, and more insurmountable problems. And some the problems you’re trying to solve with grad school might not be problems at all.
Well, check it out!
Edit:
After some further perusal, this site is pretty damn good. Check it out, click around--I have 7 or 8 tabs I keep opening up from each entry that I read. That's wikipedia-level tabbing! Perhaps it's just that this site really scratches an itch for me right now, but I'm really loving it.
Wikipedia level tabbing for me is around 15.
ReplyDeleteMore to the point, I can't say I agree completely about grad school. I may be biased by my situation as well, but I do believe that at least in the liberal arts it can be a very good way to get some focus and direction. Take philosophy, for instance (although I admit that the PhD isn't exactly one of my dreams). I'm not sure that outside of the academic world and in a situation where I'm constantly working to put food on the table I'll be able to find the direction and focus to really explore some of the deep philosophical issues I'm really passionate about. Sure, I'll still be able to read books and articles, but I think to actually write anything worthwhile regarding philosophy of the mind its going to take a lot more concentration and set-aside time than I can presently foresee having outside of school.