/lit/ - Literature

Just remember that almost all PhD students are phonies, basically rich kids with nothing else to do so they go and clog up academia by writing makework shit they barely care about. Even the ones who seem to care really don't care, usually.

Also: Meet as many of your professors as possible and understand how program deadlines and evaluations work. I saw some people get fucked over big time just because they hadn't made the right "friend," while other people skated because they had. It's a weird, small world.

Remember: You can always beat the tryhard fake-ass "theory" kids by knowing your shit inside and out on the actual source material. Real work trumps buzzwords 9 times out of 10.

>>11411534
Goodluck babe x
I really relate and no I didn't apply for a PhD program yet, maybe next year, if i find funding for the 2-3 things I kinda know about. So I can't say much but just relate, and tell you what many of my lecturers told me when I shared my frustrations
>many brilliant students drop out of phd programs but none of them get phds, many submit bad dissertations but all get phds
>oh don't worry i've never written anything that i don't absolutely loathe (a tenured philosophy professor)
I'd like to imagine a phd as an initiation, where other academics simply let you get a title so that you can develop yourself afterwards. Just focus on your research for now, you'll have time for other things later, hopefully.

>>11411534
you pick it up as you go, it takes years to get the kind of understanding of your subject to write about intelligently and form your own ideas about it

>>11411544

>Also: Meet as many of your professors as possible and understand how program deadlines and evaluations work. I saw some people get fucked over big time just because they hadn't made the right "friend," while other people skated because they had. It's a weird, small world.

Can you elaborate? That sounds pretty interesting.

>>11411562

That's strangely encouraging.

Do you get paid for that in America? I'm going to apply next year where I live but fundings are so difficult to get in the humanities

>>11411544
>I saw some people get fucked over big time just because they hadn't made the right "friend"
This, its a very weird form of networking

>>11411534
Make sure you know why you're doing it, OP, not just how. It doesn't lead to much but bitterness and poverty. Unless you want to buy my doctorate and pay off my debts?

>>11411534
Could a coach or therapist help sort this sort of stuff out? It's kind of cheap when you think of it in comparison to a PhD.

>>11411719
>>11411732

I'm Scandinavian; I won't have to pay anything for my PhD.

>>11411784
Du fuckede op, Mikkel

>>11411534
Don't expect a job, I've seen Stanford PhDs at the top of their class unable to get anything but postdocs :(

And honestly beyond credentials for teaching I don't really see the point of a PhD, 99% of everything produced by such is manifestly Dead Inside

Why you wanna PhD

>>11412646
>Why you wanna PhD

Personal fulfillment. This is not a career move.

>>11411784
I didn't either, but I could have spent those years getting a degree that would allow me to earn a decent living. Now I scramble to pay bills, contract to contract, at two nearby colleges.

>>11412693
Then what is your career plan?

>>11412752
The salary here is quite good

>>11412752

Can't you just leave academia? I've spent two years working as a high school teacher and almost two years working as a tech writer for a big international company (this was a very comfy-but-boring office job).

>>11412761

We'll see. I wouldn't mind returning to one of my previous jobs, but in my country there are good opportunities generally, and while a PhD won't necessarily give me anything spectacular, it's certainly not going to hurt.

>>11412761
Live in my mom's basement until my barrista wages pay off my loans and I can stop my parasitism.

>>11412788
Who hurt you parasite poster? What program were you unable to make it into?

>>11412792
Community college

>>11412788
In that case, a doctorate should suit your plans nicely. Enjoy!

>>11412646
God, I wish that were me.

and I'm not talking about the seal

>>11413203
Please, elaborate

>>11413210
He obviously wishes he was the rock behind the woman.

>>11411534
>Feel like an imposter
You and pretty much everyone else. Fake it till you make it, then carry on faking it.

>>11411544
>I saw some people get fucked over big time just because they hadn't made the right "friend,"
Sounds like me. My supervisor didn't know what I needed to do and couldn't really be bothered, and I failed to respond by organising things myself- probably largely due to imposter syndrome, fuelled by the fact that I genuinely didn't know what the hell I was doing. Good times.

>>11413239
I think he evidently means that he wishes he was the Oceanography Institute of New York.

>>11413618

Did you ever finish the degree?

>>11411534
Make an attempt to understand the papers, ask your professors for a good preceding work that explains it. Some professors are pretty jealous of their stature even if they don't seem like it.

(If you got in the program you can do it)

>>11411732
Like a life coach? You mean your professor?

I'm not a literature PhD OP but PhD boards are kind of complete bullshit. I have sat on a couple boards for my alma mater's review board (despite only having a master's) and if you can toss enough faculty salad or defend your shitty thesis well enough you'll pass. Actual merit is tertiary to likeability or rhetorical skills, if you lack one make up for it in the other.

>>11411534
Just make sure you make use of all of the support resources available, a good university will offer you plenty and you should always ask for feedback from your lecturers. I'm sure you already know that but it's worth keeping it in mind.

>>11414937
I actually did, but it took fookin' forever and put me in no mood to continue in academia.

>>11416401

What are you working with/as now?