A Message from the Great Beyond (i.e. the PhD): It Gets Better
Hello, my name is Mary Beth Harris, I graduated from the Villanova Masters Program in English Literature in 2011, I am currently pursuing my PhD at Purdue University, and I am a bad listener. As an M.A. student with PhD aspirations, I received a lot of good, thoughtful advice during my time at Villanova. Some of this was hard to hear because it felt like everyone was telling me what a bad idea getting a PhD was. I heard how difficult and competitive doctoral work is, how the job market is an evil no-man’s land designed by the devil himself to crush all hopes and dreams, how tenure is going the way of the dinosaurs, and how even if you are one of the lucky few to get a job that job will only continue to grind your soul into dust. Let me be clear, I am not dismissing the earnestness of this advice, nor the caring spirit in which it was offered. Moving on in graduate school is a risk, and if you want to take it seriously you need to be fully aware of these risks. More importantly, once I was committed to applying, the Villanova faculty made it part of their mission to help me get in. Graduate school is hard, choosing scholarship as a career path is a risk, BUT I am here to tell you that it can get better and that I am happy with my stubborn decision to let some of that good advice go in one ear and out of the other.
I am currently a second year PhD student at Purdue University, finishing up my course work. I love being a PhD student. I feel excited and energized by my work, and I am finally making that transition from thinking of myself as a professional student to thinking of myself as a developing scholar. I would be lying if I told you doctoral work was all sunshine, roses, and frolicking through libraries in a warm haze, but I have found a kind of satisfaction and even joy in the unique work I do as a graduate student.
Part of finding a positive experience in a PhD program is about finding a program that is a good fit for you. I feel supported and engaged at Purdue. However, feeling good about your PhD work is also about being scholastically prepared for work at that level, which is something Villanova gave me. The course work at Villanova is very similar to my work here at Purdue, and my Masters work helped me make that (often awkward) transition from being an undergraduate to a graduate student (I think of it as going through academic puberty). Furthermore, if there was one thing that pushed me into turning that corner, that really prepared me to move forward with my academic work, it was writing the thesis. The thesis option at Villanova is a luxury (a seemingly frightening one, but a luxury none the less). Very rarely, no matter what you end up doing after your M.A., will you ever have the opportunity to just focus on your work, your ideas, for a whole semester. The thesis is daunting, and it is possible to get a bit lost in the process. I certainly got lost in the early stages of mine, but this process was an important one for me and my writing. Working on a sustained research project, having to articulate it in a proposal, having to research widely in your field, and having to draft and redraft longer pieces of writing, are all skills you need to have to continue on in this field. The thesis project is a way to figure out and develop these skills. I am a different writer, thinker, researcher, and all-around scholar because I wrote the thesis, and I am glad for it. I wouldn’t feel as confident or successful in my PhD program if I hadn’t taken it on.
I am currently a second year PhD student at Purdue University, finishing up my course work. I love being a PhD student. I feel excited and energized by my work, and I am finally making that transition from thinking of myself as a professional student to thinking of myself as a developing scholar. I would be lying if I told you doctoral work was all sunshine, roses, and frolicking through libraries in a warm haze, but I have found a kind of satisfaction and even joy in the unique work I do as a graduate student.
Part of finding a positive experience in a PhD program is about finding a program that is a good fit for you. I feel supported and engaged at Purdue. However, feeling good about your PhD work is also about being scholastically prepared for work at that level, which is something Villanova gave me. The course work at Villanova is very similar to my work here at Purdue, and my Masters work helped me make that (often awkward) transition from being an undergraduate to a graduate student (I think of it as going through academic puberty). Furthermore, if there was one thing that pushed me into turning that corner, that really prepared me to move forward with my academic work, it was writing the thesis. The thesis option at Villanova is a luxury (a seemingly frightening one, but a luxury none the less). Very rarely, no matter what you end up doing after your M.A., will you ever have the opportunity to just focus on your work, your ideas, for a whole semester. The thesis is daunting, and it is possible to get a bit lost in the process. I certainly got lost in the early stages of mine, but this process was an important one for me and my writing. Working on a sustained research project, having to articulate it in a proposal, having to research widely in your field, and having to draft and redraft longer pieces of writing, are all skills you need to have to continue on in this field. The thesis project is a way to figure out and develop these skills. I am a different writer, thinker, researcher, and all-around scholar because I wrote the thesis, and I am glad for it. I wouldn’t feel as confident or successful in my PhD program if I hadn’t taken it on.
Comments
Post a Comment