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

Contents

Contents Preface xiii Acknowledgments xix 1. So You Want to Go to Graduate School 1 What motivates people to pursue graduate study? 2 Should a student go to graduate school immediately after finishing the bachelor’s degree or wait a few years? 3 Is a master’s degree a necessary prerequisite for getting a Ph.D. or a job as a professor? 5 Is it possible for a student to go to graduate school in a discipline other than one studied as an undergraduate? 5 How are admissions decisions made? 6 How many applicants do graduate programs accept? 7 Should a prospective graduate student pick a school or a program? 8 Are online graduate programs respectable? 9 What equipment does a graduate student need? 10 How do graduate students finance their education? 11 2. Financing Your Education 12 What forms of financial aid are available to graduate students? 13 Why do universities pay graduate students to attend? 16 What size stipends do universities offer graduate students? 17 Where does the money for graduate assistant stipends come from? 19 What is adjunct teaching? 19 Why do highly educated professionals accept the working conditions of adjunct faculty? 20 Why do some graduate students join unions? 20 If a graduate student can work as a teaching assistant or even an adjunct instructor, is completing the degree still worthwhile? 21 viii contentS Should a graduate student take a job outside the academy while completing a dissertation? 22 Should a graduate student accept a job as a professor before graduating? 23 3. Graduate Expectations 25 Is graduate school more demanding than college? 26 How is graduate school different from professional education in medicine, law, and business? 26 How is going to graduate school different from a full-time job? 27 How many hours per week should a graduate student expect to spend working? 29 What characteristics are most valuable for success in graduate school? 31 How does learning occur in graduate school? 33 What do graduate students learn? 34 Do graduate programs expect all of their enrolled students to graduate eventually? 35 What are the attrition rates in graduate programs? 35 Why do some graduate students drop out of their programs? 36 Why do graduate students’personalities sometimes change? 37 Why do graduate students often seem self-absorbed? 39 How can intellectual work take a physical toll on graduate students? 40 How long does graduate school take? 41 Why is five years considered the normal amount of time it takes to complete a doctorate? 42 What are residency requirements? 44 What are time limits? 44 Is there a best approach to getting through graduate school? 45 4. Coursework Is Hard Work 48 What are the steps in obtaining a graduate degree? 49 What kinds of courses do graduate students take? 50 How important are letter grades or GPA in graduate school? 51 How important is research during the coursework years? 53 How does graduate coursework help a student write a thesis? 54 How should a student use coursework to prepare for writing a thesis or dissertation? 54 What are comps, quals, prelims, generals, cumes, and orals? 55 Why do graduate students in many fields, even the sciences, have to pass foreign-language exams? 58 What is an advisor? 59 contentS ix What makes a good advisor? 60 When should a student get an advisor? 61 Can graduate students change advisors? 62 What happens if an advisor leaves the university where the graduate student is studying? 62 5. Dissertations and Theses 64 What is a thesis? 65 What is a dissertation? 65 Who reads dissertations? 67 How do I find out what is the cutting edge in my field? 68 Should a graduate student try to work in a trendy area of research? 68 How much autonomy do graduate students have in choosing their research topics? 69 Who evaluates a thesis or dissertation? 70 What is a thesis proposal? 71 Why does a student have to write a proposal before writing a thesis or dissertation? 72 Why do apparently good dissertation topics sometimes fall apart? 73 How long does it take to write a dissertation? 74 May a graduate student seek professional writing services, such as those offered by ghostwriters or editors? 77 What is a dissertation defense? 78 Is a defended dissertation a finished dissertation? 79 What happens to a dissertation after it is defended? 80 6. The Academic Culture 82 What do...