6 ms·
This might be a good time to be in grad school to weather the storm for a year or two, and then benefit from the likely upswing afterwards (if someone is intent
by medymed 6y ago
This might be a good time to be in grad school to weather the storm for a year or two, and then benefit from the likely upswing afterwards (if someone is intent on academia). Unless a substantial proportion of colleges go bankrupt and the number of job seekers increase even more.
- UncleMeat 6y agoHard to say. The humanities job market never recovered after 2008. Its not clear that there will be an upswing in the near future.
- ineedasername 6y agoI place great value in the humanities, but from a practical jobs perspective they don't do a lot more than check the box marked "degree required" on a job application. I'm all for people focussing on the humanities in their college career, but most should also be looking at a minor that gives them more concrete job prospects. Or reverse it, and minor in the humanity subject of choice.
- yes-the-day 6y agoThis was the advice I gave my sister: one major for passion, one for future employment. I graduated during 2010 with a humanities degree, and while I loved the things I learned and did really well academically, I was auto-rejected from a lot of interesting job opportunities during a really shitty economy because I simply didn't have a resume that distinguished me from anyone else and said "this guy could be valuable." My sister studied something she loved but also tried accounting, realized she hated it, and switched to something else practical, which got her a great job right out of school and put her way ahead of me financially and career-wise. I would give the same advice to any young person. You may not love every single class you take, but the investment will pay off immensely in terms of overall lifetime happiness, financial security, and career growth. You might also discover some passion in an unexpected place. On the flip side, don't study only for practicality. College is one of the few times in life you will have total intellectual freedom to follow your curiosity without restriction. Don't squander it only learning a trade. Find some subject that piques your curiosity, practicality be damned.
- gnicholas 6y agoIt may not have returned to its previous high, but it definitely bounced back. I know people who were hired into positions that were frozen unfilled during the recession and subsequently reopened.
- DoreenMichele 6y agoIf you can afford to go to grad school without borrowing to do it, maybe that would be a good idea for some people. But this is probably a terrible, terrible time to bet on getting a well paying job in the future based on current degree programs (edit: by "bet" I mean for purposes of repaying student loans). The pandemic has upended the economy and the economy was already something of a mess. We don't know what the future of work looks like and people are pretty bad at predicting the future under the best of circumstances.
- laretluval 6y agoIf it's a good PhD program then they will pay you to attend. No need to take out loans.
- throwawaygh 6y agoRaising 2 kids on $30K/yr requires loans.
- engineer_22 6y agoOr a lifestyle change. Take your pick.
- throwawaygh 6y agoLiteral poverty isn't a "lifestyle".
- barumi 6y agoSmart people don't take out loans to finance a lifestyle that's not compatible with their income.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- 6y ago
- whyenot 6y agoI actually think it's not a great time to be in grad school in the sciences. With everything remote and on Zoom, you miss out on much of the networking that is so important if you want to stay in academia.