If you want to go to grad school, run! Run as hard and as fast as you can away from the idea. If you picked up an application during a campus visit, put it down and walk away. If you had already sent to the university for an application, put the thing in the shredder. If you’re on the university’s website and have accessed the online application, type in another URL and do something else. Shop, look at porn, have cybersex, or do whatever else you like to do online. Just don’t go to another university’s website.
This advice applies if you’re considering an academic master’s or doctorate degree or you’re aimless after getting that BA or BS. Of course, there is something fun about extending a college career. The parties are better and the professors will drink with you. Oh, and there is this thing called work. For the truly dedicated who someday wish to become professors themselves, there are plenty of coveted, but low paying jobs. For $200-$600 a month, grad students can expect to work as a tutor, an assistant to a professor, or a TA (which could either stand for [student] teaching associate or teaching assistant). During my time earning an MFA in creative writing, I worked as a writing tutor, an assistant to an English professor, a lower division creative writing instructor, a TA attached to an Intro to Literature lecture class, and even as an adjunct professor at a local community college. Most of these jobs were in the $200 to $340 range each, and perhaps came to $600 if several were combined. My adjunct instructor job during my thesis semester was wonderful. I would have to work several of the university jobs for what I got paid to teach developmental writing at the community college.
Pay was only one issue of the grad school gigs. For the compensation offered, these jobs were extremely demanding. Tutoring students took a great deal of emotional and intellectual resources. Teaching lower division courses, of course, required lesson plans, attention to student work, and patience that is definitely required of high school teachers. One has to read the material, create assignments, grade papers, and interact with friendly or hostile students. While the professor takes care of lessons for a lecture class, the TA still has a lot of work. One has to work with one or two groups of students from the class (which can be up to 60 people), facilitate discussions, and give tests and quizzes (some TA’s even give homework). While the professor lectures, the TA is essentially responsible for the student’s grade. However, the professor can overrule the grades if she sees fit. The student workers must shoulder the responsibilities of their jobs in addition to the work required of them in their graduate courses. While graduate programs come with obligations to read, study hard, and write well, students often work to meet more basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.
To be continued…
shindotv 