This is what your life looks like on a doctoral program Ceilon Aspensen, September 17, 2013October 23, 2023 Bachelor’s degree = “I really want to get ‘A’s, but I’m so young, disorganized and unconscious that I can’t figure out how to balance my weekend drunks with doing all of my homework, getting to class all the time, and then actually doing the quality work my professor expects. If I get a B+ I’m really accomplishing something.” Master’s degree = “How did I not get straight ‘A’s as an undergrad, because basically all I have to do to get straight ‘A’s in grad school is to show up to class, do all the reading, write about the reading, talk about the reading in class. I don’t remember how to get ‘B’s–I do the work and get ‘A’s or don’t do the work and get ‘F’s, which makes it a binary system of success or failure.” PhD work = “I have no idea what the prof wants from me. He asks specific questions which I answer specifically, and then get feedback that says I should have answered some other question he didn’t even hint he wanted an answer to. Also, I have grown-up obligations which make all-nighters absolutely out of the question, so I can only skim the reading; and I’m too old to really care about trying to impress the prof and find out what secret handshake he’s looking for; and though I really would love to get ‘A’s I just don’t care as long as I’m passing, so I’m mostly focusing on how NOT to get ‘C’s (which are failing in grad school)……So I’ll just try to get what I need to help me accomplish my own research, and do my best at my own research, and hope I make it to the finish line, and hope I still care about what I’m doing when I get there, because I’m really, really tired, and I have car trouble that is interfering with taking my classes, and I hired two new employees at work that take time away from my classes, and since I have to make a living I have to choose between going to classes or getting my new employees squared away, and making a living is more important (though I know there are a lot of profs would argue otherwise) so that’s a no-brainer……” The moral of this story: there is NO moral. This is just what your life looks like on a doctoral program: one existential crisis after another after another after another…… Please follow and like us: Uncategorized