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The Grad School HandbookRichard Jerrard and Margot Jerrard FIRST THINGS
LEARNING HOW TO THINK
Graduate school is challenging and will mean working hard, devoting days and often nights to work. The standards demanded of you will be higher than they were when you were in college. It will mean not joining nonstudent friends when they go off for a weekend in the mountains and, instead, staying home to work in the library. Late hours spent poring over texts, nights working in a lab or studio or at the computer until the sun rises, will not be uncommon. When you were an undergraduate the emphasis was on examinations and grades. Now, you will need to understand your whole field. It's hard work, but rewarding and exciting. Susan May, whose Ph.D. from Brown University is in physiology and biophysics, found being in graduate school stimulating. "Being a graduate student is a wonderful life. You are with fascinating people. You get immersed in a program and learn how to think.'' For Susan, as for many others, being a graduate student was a happy experience. Graduate students do not have enough money, work hard, labor against stiff competition, and feel uneasy about future job prospects. However, they are learning something they are interested in and associating with people who have the same interests. Even though they feel uncertainty about the future, most students enjoy these years in school. They are progressing toward a goal. They like the comradeship with other students and being with faculty who are excited about their discoveries.
MASTER'S OR DOCTORATE? Most graduate students work toward a master's degree. The best known degrees are Master of Arts (M.A.) and Master of Science (M.S.), but there is a huge variety of others. Some are designed to lead to an eventual doctoral degree. Many other master's candidates are in professional programs, preparing for a special kind of work, such as the Master of Business Administration, Master of Social Work, or the Master of Architecture. Doctoral degrees are the highest degrees attainable and come in two types; a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) is training for research and is required if you want to become a professor in a university, although probably more than half the people who hold Ph.D.s are not employed by universities. Almost every high-level scientific researcher has a Ph.D. degree. Other doctoral degrees fit you to work in a certain profession, such as Doctor of Education (D.Ed.) or Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.). Some of these are not research degrees, but generally you must write a substantial thesis. The M.D. and the J.D. (Juris Doctor, the usual law school degree) do not require a thesis. For these professional fields, each school's requirements are quite specific.
MASTER'S DEGREE People with master's degrees in history or English find good jobs in public relations, broadcasting, researching for documentaries, information offices, government intelligence and foreign service, among other fields. Others who want to travel get a master's in the teaching of English as a Second Language, which leads to jobs teaching English in many foreign countries. Generally it will take a full-time student from one and a half to three years, depending on the program, to complete the work for a master's degree. The requirements are usually clearly spelled out; you have definite courses in certain areas and examinations to pass at certain times. The degree may also require a master's thesis. Sometimes this involves original research on your part. Other times a thesis for a master's degree means that you must write a substantial expository paper on some topic that is suggested to you. In that case you don't have to break new ground or generate ideas that are worthy of publication. Working on a master's degree does not require the years or the money needed to get a doctorate. One benefit of a master's degree is that it can enable you to change directions completely. You can make a new start and begin a different career. If you find that you are no longer interested in the psychology you majored in during college, you can apply to a completely new field, such as architecture, and with an M.Arch. start work as an architect. Or, if your English major is not leading you to the kinds of jobs you want, you can change goals and work on a master's in public health. Many departments have different tracks, one for those whose graduate work continues on straight from their undergraduate studies and another for people making a career switch. If you are contemplating a big change, that track will enable you to make up the courses you didn't have. It may take you longer to get the degree than it will take those who majored in that subject, but for a lot of people a master's degree can be a new start in life.
DOCTORAL DEGREE In a Ph.D. program you are trained to be a scholar or researcher in the field and are awarded your doctorate after you pass the examinations and complete a thesis that shows original research. This means years of study, and writing a dissertation that is then read and criticized by a committee of scholars. For this degree you will need to work independently and to take the initiative for your research. Some students who have done brilliantly in their undergraduate and graduate class work flounder when it comes to the independent research required for a doctoral dissertation. Others thrive on this challenge and enjoy working ahead on their own. The requirements for a doctorate are not as specific as for a master's. You have a much wider choice of course work, and the choice of research area can be daunting. Sometimes it is difficult to find out in detail what the requirements for the doctorate are. You not only have to complete certain courses, but also pass examinations whose subject and form may not be completely specified, and then, most crucial, find a mentor, an adviser who will help you to write a good dissertation. Plans of attack for these situations are covered in later chapters.
MAXIMIZING YOUR CHANCES In most academic departments in which both a Ph.D. and a master's are awarded, you have a choice. You can apply either to be admitted as a master's candidate or as a potential Ph.D. Which should you choose? You will have more chance of getting financial aid if you start as a doctoral candidate rather than a master's candidate. There are exceptions, but usually academic departments award little financial aid to master's candidates. Most support goes to students who are in the Ph.D. program, which takes much longer to complete. If you are not certain whether you will stop with a master's or continue toward a doctorate, make it clear on your application that your goal is a doctorate even if you are not sure how far you want to go. However, if you feel that you are unlikely to be admitted as a doctoral candidate, applying as a master's candidate can increase your chances of admission. Many departments have different standards for doctoral and master's students. They will accept some applicants in a master's program they do not consider good enough to admit to the Ph.D. program. If you have been rejected for a Ph.D. program by the department you really want, you can telephone the Graduate Adviser and ask to be admitted to work on a master's. Then, if you do an outstanding job as a master's student, you may be able to persuade the faculty to change their minds and let you stay on to work for the doctorate.
IS A DOCTORATE WORTH IT? Many people find that with their doctoral degrees they get good jobs, even though they are not teaching at a university. Matt has a Ph.D. in mathematics from Virginia, which garnered him an assistant professorship at a remote college. Dissatisfied, he went to Wall Street, where he is now an authority on predicting which technical stocks to invest in. Van, whose Ph.D. was in English, has a high-level job in public relations for a big company. Mary, with a Ph.D. in mineral economics, has worked for both the government and big business in between the births of her three children. Annette, with a doctorate in education, works for a combined hospital and clinic. She conducts workshops and classes that teach employees the best ways to interact with patients and with other staff members.
TAKING STOCK
Most people who consider graduate school, including many of the most successful ones, have a strong interest in their subject before they start graduate work, and also have confidence in their ability to do work at that level.
THE WORK YOU ARE AIMING FOR For some students there is no question. Marina always knew she would go to graduate school and what she would study. She loved animals. When as a child she found out that she could actually get paid for working with them, she had no doubt that was for her. Marina went straight from college, having earned good grades in the courses she needed, to graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. She is now a young assistant professor who spends every summer in Africa, observing monkeys, doing the work she has always wanted to do. Other people are not nearly so certain. While working on her B.A. in college, Janet had not been much interested in classwork, and her grades were not very good. All she had wanted to do was get married. At the age of thirty-two, in a shaky marriage with two small children, she knew that now she had to finish her education. She needed to prepare herself for a job that would earn a living, and she wanted one that she liked doing. After being out of school for years, she found it difficult to return. There were examinations to study for, papers to write, projects to complete. At times she didn't know if she could continue. She did. Now she is a dean at a Big Ten university, who works with graduate students. As Janet found out, going back to school to work on a graduate degree can be exhausting. However, if this is the field you want to devote your life to, some dedication and hard work now will pay off with a satisfying job in the future. But then there are the people who have no clear idea of what to do after their bachelor's degree. Burt was one. Burt had to do something, but he didn't know what. He only knew that after three and a half years at his Big Ten university he did not like to read or write, and especially did not like to give reports. He thought he'd stay on, continue living at the fraternity and go to law school. Since his freshman year it had been easy for him to get fairly good grades without doing much work. He was smart but also lazy. But law schools are very selective. Students cannot coast through. They spend long hours each week reading about cases and torts and contracts. When Burt talked to law students, he began to wonder if this was for him. When he found out how much work it would be just to prepare his applications, he realized that he was not ready. He took a year off to travel through Europe and to think about what he really wanted to do. Deciding to go to graduate school because you do not know what else to do, and spending years and thousands of dollars, is not a good idea. It is too much work and too hard to keep going if you are not really interested. If you don't have a clear idea, wait until you do.
YOUR PATH TO SUCCESS Some people know that they want to earn more money. Others want to enter a profession where high achievement will earn autonomy, independence, or a feeling of accomplishment. They may want to teach or work in scientific research or for an art museum. While you cannot see the future, you can apply some general principles. If you decide to be an artist, chances are you will have more trouble making a lot of money than if you are a banker. But if art is your passion, you can give it a good try. Elizabeth, a graduate student in astronomy, had always loved music and supported herself partly by playing the organ every Sunday at a local church. While she liked astronomy, she loved music. After a while she realized that the only thing she really wanted to study was music. She saw that her friends in astronomy were not having an easy time getting jobs and decided to work on a Ph.D. in music theory. She's a graduate music student now, and doesn't know what her life will be like financially, but she is doing what she wants to do. Some people do make a living as artists. After you think it over, you may decide to take the risk and apply to Master of Fine Arts programs in painting. You might become a recognized painter, or an illustrator. Or perhaps you will choose a field in which you can use your artistic ability at a job, such as industrial design, or computer graphics. Lori decided to study for a master's in art. While in school she took several courses in computer graphics. As soon as she received her master's she went to California, where she is now a highly paid computer graphic artist. Ray, who had drawn pictures from the time he could hold a crayon in preschool, received a master's in medical illustrating. He found a job in a university department of anatomy and, as he worked there, became interested in the subject. He wanted to learn more and returned to school to get a Ph.D. in anatomy. He now is a professor who teaches anatomy to medical students, in addition to medical illustrating. He has produced four illustrated anatomy books, which combine his interests and supplement his income.
CAN YOU DO IT? Take a piece of paper, think about these questions, and write down your answers.
If you have the drive, the time and the resources to invest and want to do it, then you are ready to go. As you build toward your future success, you can make your graduate school experience truly a good one. The following chapters will show you how. Click here for the next section Reprinted from The Grad School Handbook by Richard P. Jerrard and Margot Jerrard. Copyright 1998 by Richard P. Jerrard and Margot Jerrard. Permission granted by The Berkeley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc. All rights reserved Contact the publisher at 1-800-788-6262 or http://www.penguinputnam.com/ |
