They’re Mad as hell <— That’s PhD students.
The article gives sage advice, which mostly sounds like re-adjusting your own sense of worth, under a patina of blaming those encouraging professors. Viz, “When I got a good job, it felt less like an achievement than an improbable success in the lottery”
And the follow-up, noting that PhD students may be bright, but they can also be delusional: “But I think his mind-set is typical of a lot of graduate students these days: They know the odds are long but continue to believe they’ll be among the lucky ones.” He goes on to suggest that a kind of internship program might help out recent graduates, so that they can gain experience and such, while working at low-level colleges. Great, except everyone knows that the PhD is either a) an exercise in top 1% excellence, or b) an exercise in convincing yourself into thinking that it’s an exercise in top 1% excellence. And, yes, we all think we’re in that top 1% (personally I waffle between “I’m the best” and “I’m a horrible, stupid, ugly good for nothing person”). Posted via email from T H I N K | Comment »
