Tao.of.Graduate.School

Agreed. I recall some advice I received from a professor immediately before I applied for graduate school: "In this game, we sacrifice money for freedom." I've never forgotten that, and similar professors across the disciplines and across universities have told me the same. Tons of horror stories out there, and as Lisa44201 pointed out, the "reviews" of graduate school are biased by those unfortunate souls who have been burned. In this end, what works for you?

I agree with Nicholas Cage (never thought I'd say that in a forum post, hah!). So many of these kinds of issues are a function of academic stress (both the student's and the faculty member's). I encourage you to send an email to your advisor and take them out for coffee. Get out of the office. Be genuinely honest with your advisor. Discuss your issues, but be sure to preface everything with how much you care about your own success. Few faculty will outright reject someone with genuine interest in succeeding. Good luck!!

It's difficult to know what to advise without reviewing the paper, but I would encourage you not to dismiss the paper outright. Graduate students in Political Science typically come from a number of fields, presumably because the discipline encourages outside perspectives (at least, let's hope!). In other words, I would encourage you to play up your fellowship and indicate how it and other opportunities gave you a unique perspective on the field. Quantitative analysis and research can be taught at the graduate level, so I wouldn't worry too much there. Good luck to you!!

An Introduction All, My name is Jonathan, and I'm currently pursing my PhD in Literacy, with an emphasis on reading and writing in higher education. In other words, my entire academic career is focused on a single, overarching question: How can the difficulties of reading and writing in higher education (primarily graduate school) be demystified? Paired with my PhD work, my primary occupation is as a consultant to graduate students (to help with reading and writing in their disciplines) and faculty as to how they might teach reading and writing in their courses. I've done this for approximately 5 years. I am thrilled to see such an amazing community here. I look forward to posting here, detailing my own struggles and helping others with theirs. An Invitation Given my research and experience, I feel like I have valuable knowledge to contribute to graduate students, both new and veteran students. I've created The Tao of Graduate School, a blog with the goal of demystifying much of graduate student life, based on my experience of teaching advanced reading and writing and the current research in literacy. In other words, the Tao seeks to show the way of reading, writing, and thriving in graduate school. I hope that The Tao of Graduate School can help all of you on your respective journeys. Again, a huge thanks to all of you for already creating such an amazing community! I look forward to our conversations. Best, Jonathan