Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Letters of Rec
I have had a lot of students ask me for reference letters for MA programs in the last couple of years. Looking through academic blogs I see that we are supposed to try and discourage students from attending graduate studies due to the very poor job market. But, to be honest I just write the letters and do not give any advice.
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I give my students three pieces of advice about grad school:
1. A Master's Degree will help you get into certain types of jobs, but a Ph.D. will only get you into academia, and there are absolutely no jobs, nor will there be in the future (currently only 20 percent of all new jobs are tenure-track).
2. Once you get into a grad program, the faculty will encourage you to stay for the Ph.D. That's only to pad their own enrollments and budgets. They pick one or two favorites to promote, and let the rest sink. And even the ones they promote usually can't get decent jobs.
3. Your fellow grad students are your competitors, not your friends.
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