Anyone here in an English Master's/Ph.D. program? I'm

Ask yourself:

1. Do you want to teach?

2. Do you want your life to revolve around work?

3. Do you have 5-10 years of your life to give to this?

4. Are you ok with not finding a job despite that 5-10 years?

If you want to teach it's fun, good experience, and (in a good program) a nice routine to get into and avoid all that "what am I doing with my life" post-undergrad stuff. Since you're interested in English though you will really need to specialize and have a decent if broad idea of what you'd like to work on.

>>9778094
Don't do it. There were only three openings in the country when one of my professors was looking for a job.

Hope to hear more about this. Graduate studies threads always seem to help me out.

guenuinely interested in hearing some responses to this

I'm getting a Masters in English Lit right now. I'm really enjoying it. My school is fairly small, but the quality of teaching has been good. I'm actually leaning towards not getting a PhD at the moment, since my real goal is to make it as a major writer, so when I have my MA I'll probably find a teaching position and stay put while I work on my art. Assuming something cool doesn't happen to redirect my course of action.

>>9778094
I applied last year to a couple English PhDs. Was rejected by all. My friend did the same (his third year in a row) and was rejected by all. We both applied for very high tier schools. But unless you want to be in fucking Wisconsin or something for the next 6-9 years (I mean, that's cool if you do, no shame there) it's going to be insanely competitive. You have to be much much more than a "good student." As far as I can tell you pretty much need to have stuff published and to have multiple languages.

However, forgot to add, this competition seems to just be for PhDs. MAs seem very easy (several of the schools I applied to offered me a position in their MA programs) by comparison. The difference of course is that PhDs are paid and you have to pay for a Master's. Also, unless you're getting an MBA or MFA (and it sounds like you're not) a Master's means jack shit, except that it *might* help you get into a PhD program.

I come from a good liberal arts school, had excellent grades, did original research in my field etc. Had some interviews but didn't work out. Dunno if I'll apply again this year, might wait a minute. Life after a PhD seems just as crazy - usual years of adjunct work and other crap. Most of the grad students I know are on welfare.

>>9778094
History BA here, entertained grad-school and decided not to. The landscape is pretty much the same for both majors (i.e. it's terrible).

You're going to spend 5-10 years of additional studying to walk out struggling to find a job that pays 30-35k. You'll more than likely not find a tenure track position and you'll end up teaching as a part-time adjunct at several universities/community colleges at the same time to make ends meet. I'd suggest only do it if you wind up going to an Ivy or the top school for your discipline (w/funding, do not take out debt to do this, seriously it's a horrible move). I'd encourage you to look at private sector careers that scratch some of the itches that you enjoy about academic research and pursue that.

For example, I'm currently a Data Analyst and while I'd much prefer to be a Ph.D. knee-deep in historical research all day, I can support myself and my family fairly comfortably and I get to use some of the aspects I enjoy about academic research in my day-to-day job.

>>9778094
Talk to one of your professors asap. They'll be able to help you out more than anyone here on /lit/ and if you're serious about this, you're going to need to get close to them anyway so you can ask for letters of recommendation.

I'm a senior Phil/Lit double major applying for an MFA in the fall and probably planning on going for a PhD afterwards if get full funding and can go to a top notch uni so I've been working on this stuff a lot recently

>>9778094

>>9778094

I just graduated from a top-10 school where our top English graduates are universally admitted into top-tier graduate programs. I was in the process of applying to Phd programs, but eventually dropped out of the process and just graduated with a regular A.B.

My big gripe with Academia is that you can't just write papers on ideas that fascinate you and you would be content researching. You have to situate your thesis within a larger, "hotter" field that will attract the interest of program directors. Writing papers about Milton is out; but papers on the eco-criticism of rap music and gender are in.

Within a few months, all of my honors colleagues had mutilated their original theses to accommodate the wishes of admissions consultants and advising professors.

This is a never-ending process - it will continue as a PHD and as a associate professor seeking tenure. You will constantly have to redefine the value of your research to a group of peers who are much more interested in the current academic politics, as opposed to the objective merits of research. Fail to do so, and you'll never find a post-doctoral or tenured position anywhere. Some people get lucky and find a field that is "hot" for the duration of their career - but this mostly isn't the case.

Also, standard wisdom about the rarity of tenured positions at decent colleges holds. I know someone with a Harvard PHD who has been a salaried lecturer for 10 years now and essentially given up on tenure.

>>9780123
what do you do now?

Forgot what I came here to post but I am touched.

>>9781180

I work in investment banking in New York. Not a very /lit/ career, but the work is intellectually honest in it's own way. Unlike most academic or non-profit careers, you don't have to scrimp and starve to convince yourself you're "still living the dream". In what free time you have, you can pursue whatever passions you have without worrying about cost.

I still hold out the dream that I'll retire at age 30, get my PHD, and just write and read for the rest of my life. This probably isn't the case, but we'll see.

>>9780123
do you know if the same holds true for Classics?

>>9783863

It depends on how you define yourself within the field. One of my friends was a classics major but mainly took coursework in history and culture as opposed to literature. Because of the difficulty level associated with translating Greek and Latin, the Classics theses I'm aware of basically involved translation and analysis of a given set of texts; which I guess is a little less political than the English theses I was exposed to.

At most liberal arts colleges, Classics departments are pretty small and underfunded. Our department made ends meet by relying on lecturers and cross-offering courses with the History and English departments, which increased their enrollments.

>>9784109
Thanks dude. That's somewhat encouraging. I'm also at a top-10 school probably going through the same kind of shit you were a little while ago, so it helps.