Finding Yourself

Many people go into grad school because they don't know what to do after they get their bachelor's degree. They think that grad school will help them to figure out who they are, what they are good at, and where they should work. They believe that a graduate degree (especially a PhD) will also help them to work anywhere they choose. Unfortunately, these hopes may not materialize. Many professors went to grad school for the same reason: they were smart but didn't know what to (or didn't want to do anything in the real world). These people will not help you out where you should go with your life. Moreover, a graduate degree is not a pass to employment of your choice. Just think about this: if you were a business owner thinking about hiring someone to develop a software for your business, who would you hire - someone with a PhD in Computer Science or someone who has successfully developed similar software solutions in the past?

I propose a less expensive and time consuming way of figuring out your interests, abilities, and possible path in life. Think about the time when you were a kid. At that time you obviously were not burdened (hopefully) by any economic and social pressures. You went with your natural instincts. So what did you like to do when you were a child? What were your hobbies? What were you good at? What did you dream about? After answering these questions, try to project that picture of yourself into some modern-day career.

For example, my brother has been crazy about bikes, motorcycles, and cars since he was a child (and I think he still is). I know he could have become a great car mechanic or a car salesman. But instead he went into finance. I think he still considers transitioning into the automotive industry although now he has years of successful experience in finance.

You need to go out!

Many PhD students decide to abandon their social life at least at some points of their program. For me it was the time before my prelims. I didn't go out almost two months. The second period was during dissertation stage. I would probably go out no more than once every month. I always felt - how can I go out and have fun when I have prelims/dissertation proposal/dissertation defense coming up soon?

Now that I look back I think this was the most serious mistake I made as a PhD student. PhD program is a marathon. For most people the marathon lasts more than 4 years. If you deprive yourself of social life at any point, you may be more productive for a week or two. But this will hurt your motivation and emotional health in the long run. Here's why. First, you have to take your mind off your work regularly. This is the most obvious reason for not isolating oneself for more than a week. Secondly, if you don't go out for too long, you may lose your relationships with friends. And then when you are ready to go out, there will be no one to go out with. Everyone would move on with their lives and you will be on your own. Not only this will deprive you of fun, it will also deliver a serious psychological blow. You will start thinking "I've lost everything because of the program: time, money, friends!".

So don't make this mistake. By the way, I've known quite a few people who survived through their programs in spite of everything being against them simply by getting drunk like a pig every week. Although you have to be careful with this, as you well know.

Academic Elitism

Economist Dan Klein shows that the worldwide top-35 economics departments pull 76 percent of their faculty from their own graduates. He argues that the academic culture is pyramidal, not polycentric, and resembles a closed and genteel social circle. Meanwhile it draws on resources from taxpayers, foundations, endowments, and tuition payers, and it judges the social service delivered. The result is a self-organizing and self-validating circle
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_elitism

The Myth of Freedom in Academia

Bright, inquisitive, and free-spirited minds are often lured into academia by the promise of intellectual freedom they will enjoy. Starting my first year in my PhD program I began noticing that censorship in academia is even more rampant than in the corporate world.

I've seen quite a few cases of someone in the corporate world telling his or her boss that he is an idiot and slamming the door in front of his nose. I think this is largely due to the fact that employment is much more fluid and dynamic in the corporate world. If you are a good specialist, you can always find a job in your field no matter where you live. The boss does not control the entire industry. Moreover, a few years from now he may not be a top dog anymore.

But I've never seen an academic doing anything of this sort. Academics are afraid to criticize senior scholars and administrators. Even criticizing a well-established theory may be impossible due to the fact that people to assigned to review these papers are often the ones who build their careers around it. This is due to the fact that even a good professor may have to spend years and relocate to another part of the world to change his or her job. Another factor is that senior scholars stick around for decades. And they are the ones controlling the publication processes - the backbone of any academic career. Once you get on their bad side, you will have to wait for 20 or 30 years for them to leave the field so that they are of no threat to you.

Those at odds with the system feel like they are not just losing their jobs in this specific school. They are ending their careers. I knew a professor who was threatened by his dean with the following words: "Finance is a small field. If you don't do X, I will make sure you will never find another job in finance!". And I'm sure he could do this if he wanted to. That's why shooting sprees are so common in academia. People feel like their life and career is over once they get into an argument with the system.

I started to think about this today after reading a few articles from the Chronicles of Higher Education website. I was surprised to see so many people writing under pseudonyms. And I suspect that many of those authors writing under pseudonyms actually have tenure.