Is Graduate School Really for You? : The Whos, Whats, Hows, and Whys of Pursuing a Master's or Ph. D.

Cover -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. So You Want to Go to Graduate School -- What motivates people to pursue graduate study? -- Should a student go to graduate school immediately after finishing the bachelor's degree or wait a few years? -- Is a master's degree a necessary prerequisite for getting a Ph.D. or a job as a professor? -- Is it possible for a student to go to graduate school in a discipline other than one studied as an undergraduate? -- How are admissions decisions made? -- How many applicants do graduate programs accept? -- Should a prospective graduate student pick a school or a program? -- Are online graduate programs respectable? -- What equipment does a graduate student need? -- How do graduate students finance their education? -- 2. Financing Your Education -- What forms of financial aid are available to graduate students? -- Why do universities pay graduate students to attend? -- What size stipends do universities offer graduate students? -- Where does the money for graduate assistant stipends come from? -- What is adjunct teaching? -- Why do highly educated professionals accept the working conditions of adjunct faculty? -- Why do some graduate students join unions? -- If a graduate student can work as a teaching assistant or even an adjunct instructor, is completing the degree still worthwhile? -- Should a graduate student take a job outside the academy while completing a dissertation? -- Should a graduate student accept a job as a professor before graduating? -- 3. Graduate Expectations -- Is graduate school more demanding than college? -- How is graduate school different from professional education in medicine, law, and business? -- How is going to graduate school different from a full-time job? -- How many hours per week should a graduate student expect to spend working?.

What characteristics are most valuable for success in graduate school? -- How does learning occur in graduate school? -- What do graduate students learn? -- Do graduate programs expect all of their enrolled students to graduate eventually? -- What are the attrition rates in graduate programs? -- Why do some graduate students drop out of their programs? -- Why do graduate students' personalities sometimes change? -- Why do graduate students often seem self-absorbed? -- How can intellectual work take a physical toll on graduate students? -- How long does graduate school take? -- Why is five years considered the normal amount of time it takes to complete a doctorate? -- What are residency requirements? -- What are time limits? -- Is there a best approach to getting through graduate school? -- 4. Coursework Is Hard Work -- What are the steps in obtaining a graduate degree? -- What kinds of courses do graduate students take? -- How important are letter grades or GPA in graduate school? -- How important is research during the coursework years? -- How does graduate coursework help a student write a thesis? -- How should a student use coursework to prepare for writing a thesis or dissertation? -- What are comps, quals, prelims, generals, cumes, and orals? -- Why do graduate students in many fields, even the sciences, have to pass foreign-language exams? -- What is an advisor? -- What makes a good advisor? -- When should a student get an advisor? -- Can graduate students change advisors? -- What happens if an advisor leaves the university where the graduate student is studying? -- 5. Dissertations and Theses -- What is a thesis? -- What is a dissertation? -- Who reads dissertations? -- How do I find out what is the cutting edge in my field? -- Should a graduate student try to work in a trendy area of research?.

How much autonomy do graduate students have in choosing their research topics? -- Who evaluates a thesis or dissertation? -- What is a thesis proposal? -- Why does a student have to write a proposal before writing a thesis or dissertation? -- Why do apparently good dissertation topics sometimes fall apart? -- How long does it take to write a dissertation? -- May a graduate student seek professional writing services, such as those offered by ghostwriters or editors? -- What is a dissertation defense? -- Is a defended dissertation a finished dissertation? -- What happens to a dissertation after it is defended? -- 6. The Academic Culture -- What do the terms assistant professor and associate professor mean? -- What is tenure? -- How should graduate students address professors? -- What role does institutional prestige play in a graduate student's personal reputation? -- How do scholars disseminate their research findings at conferences? -- Why is it important to present work in progress at conferences? -- Why do presenters have to pay to attend a conference? -- What is peer review? -- How can a graduate student find out which journals are worth reading regularly? -- What counts as an important journal? -- Who did the most work for a book or journal article that has more than one author? -- How do scholarly journals compensate their authors? -- Why does a scholarly author sometimes have to pay to have his work considered or published by a journal? -- Should graduate students try to publish their research before their dissertations are finished? -- How much publication is enough? -- How do graduate students celebrate the completion of their degrees? -- Is a Ph.D. the only kind of doctorate? -- 7. Having a Life in Graduate School -- Why do prospective graduate students often relocate to attend school?.

What kinds of extracurricular activities should graduate students participate in? -- What do nonacademics understand about graduate students? -- Can dropping out of graduate school be a good decision? -- Why do graduate students sometimes avoid family gatherings? -- How much work do graduate students have to do between semesters? -- What are the difficulties of maintaining a romantic relationship during graduate school? -- Why are sexual relations between students and faculty forbidden? -- May graduate students date other students? -- Why do some graduate students live apart from their partners? -- What challenges do parents of young children face in graduate school? -- 8. Degrees, Jobs, and Academic Careers -- What are the employment prospects of a newly minted Ph.D.? -- What are the steps in the academic hiring process? -- What is the difference between a résumé and a curriculum vitae, or CV? -- What are the rhythms of the academic job market? -- Should a prospective professor pick a place where she wants to live and then focus her job search there? -- Do academic careers have to begin with an assistant professorship? -- Why do women still leave the academy disproportionately? -- Do universities hire their own Ph.D.s as faculty? -- What is spousal hiring? -- What is a postdoc? -- How likely are faculty members to change jobs? -- Can a professor at a community college hope to land a job in the Ivy League? -- Why does writing a dissertation qualify a graduate student to be a professor? -- How do new professors learn to be teachers? -- Do professors spend as much time on research as graduate students do? -- What do professors do in the summer? -- Are professors satisfied with their work? -- What nonacademic careers are open to Ph.D.s? -- How can Ph.D.s persuade nonacademic employers to hire them? -- Afterword.

If graduate school requires so much work with so little reward, why would anyone bother? -- Notes -- Glossary -- Sources -- For Further Reading -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.

Whether you are considering applying to graduate school, already enrolled, or would simply like to know more about continuing your education, this is the book for you.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.