Friday, August 01, 2003
(2:00 PM) | Anonymous:
Our Hero Loses His Mind
Over the last few months, I've become increasingly enamoured of the idea of getting a doctorate in history. I've spent the summer reading various recent works on Polish history, and they're great--I could read about Pilsudski, Dmowski, Prus, Piasecki, Smigly-Rydz and all the rest all day long and i think i'd be fine with it. And theory too--all of a sudden i find i'm a Foucault lover. Sadly, i think i made this discovery a little late. My undergraduate record was fairly mediocre much of the time, i've been a good little graduate student in my Master's program, but only for a year, I've got good test scores and recommendations, but then, so does EVERY OTHER PERSON APPLYING. I'd say i've got a 30% chance of getting in anywhere, and, oh, 5% chance of anywhere really great.
But even if I was assured of getting into a good Ph.D program, why on earth would anyone want to? I'd be looking at a minimum of six years spent mostly working on this, during that time earning, on average, about $15,000 a year. Following my graduation, i could compete with at least 300 other people for any open position, with the additional possibility of working as an adjunct professor for no money and even less prestige. An article I read suggested that, of all the students graduating with doctorates in History this year, 4 out of 5 will not find a job teaching in the next five years. Of course there's lots one can do with a Ph.D besides teach, the government always needs area specialists, etc., but it's seems appalling to me that the primary occupation for which most doctoral students train is one they may never come close to doing.
And this isn't just pessimism on my part--for no discernible reason, two days ago my boss launched into a heart-rending story about his inability to find a faculty position in Russian History. At one point he was even reduced to working as an adjunct for free, in a desperate attempt to get noticed, or get experience, or something. He's now 37, working as an archivist for probably $40,000 a year in the most expensive real estate market in the U.S., and that whole professor thing is probably not going to happen.
Worse-case scenario, perhaps, but no less frightening for that. I guess the whole point of this post is to describe an increasing willingness on my part to pursue what is, by most rational standards, a really bad idea. And the thing is, i'm not alone--I'm sure the creator of this weblog would have no problem one day working as an assistant professor off in Slovenia somewhere, yet the job prospects in his area of expertise are every bit as grim as mine. Why are we putting ourselves through this? Why -did- we put ourselves through this? Is there still time to apply to dental school?
It's a double bind, really. On the one hand, i wonder if universities should simply reduce the number of doctoral students to a number more in line with the realities of the job market. On the other, were they to do this, my already-slim chances of admission would go right out the window. hmm.
I'm going to have lunch now. Hopefully by the time i finish my sandwich a solution will have come to mind.
