Golden Monkey

Well, great. A whole new insecurity for me! I had never heard of this before, but it doesn't sound far-fetched.

The latter (working at the same university you are pursuing a degree,) from my experience, is a complete piece of cake. Honestly, people thought this was such a big deal, but if you've had a really high-stress career in the past like I did, it was a breeze, a cakewalk, a milk run, a walk in the park... a... another metaphor for something that is not difficult. University jobs are, from my experience, very laid-back and low-pressure compared to the other jobs out there, so taking classes at the same time just isn't very hard at all. So if you get one of those tips on a university job that offers tuition remission, I really suggest you jump on it asap. Also, university jobs pay very badly, but the benefits are really good.

When Chuck Norris received a rejection letter that said, "thank you; your consideration of our program is a great compliment to us," he knew that they actually meant it.

Now all we need is a little Java applet where you can enter in your data and have it give you an answer.

Going to work every day and working on my resume in case this doesn't work out.

Great input, Crayolacat. One thing I wonder about is this concept of the "Guerrilla Resume," as it comes from the Guerrilla Marketing book. The idea is to make your 2-page black and white text only resume into a 1-page color brochure of sorts, with logos from important companies you've worked for in the past. While this makes a lot of sense to me (the theory is that humans are more driven by graphics than they are words,) the examples I've seen have been so aesthetically horrifying that I can't bring myself to do it. Example. I guess in my umpteenth rewrite of my resume, I'm trying to come up with some compromise between the two. One thing I learned from my very first "real" job interview was that you should be really, really careful about interview/career advice from someone who has absolutely no familiarity with your particular field. While this advice is typically well-intentioned, you need to ask someone who has worked in that field, or trust your own intuition, rather than listening to someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. When I got my first interview, the job involved a lot of physical work: carpentry, fabrication, etc. in addition to all the design work. My sister's boyfriend at the time came from a completely corporate publishing background and said that I must, must, must wear a suit, and always with a white shirt and a red tie, and to make sure my shoes were polished. I had a feeling he was completely wrong, but did as he said because he had been working for years and was 100% adamant ("always a suit. No exceptions ever!") When I got to the job interview, every employee was in the most casual of clothes, and everyone single one of them made a crack about my ridiculous suit. I didn't get the job, because, I was told, they got the impression that I was not willing to get my hands dirty and do the manual labor that came with the job. I always regretted listening to that advice, because I knew from the beginning it was wrong, but followed it anyway.

Is state school a possibility for you? My mom got an MFA at a state school (at the age of 50, mind you!) and it was extremely inexpensive compared to my private school tuition. Or you could take the route that I did (which required much luck, admittedly,) and get a job with the university and then take advantage of tuition remission. That saved me about $35,000!

In light of the thread, and the very wise advice to "hope for the best and prepare for the worst," I wanted to start a thread about recommended job search strategies and books on job-hunting. I read an older version of the standard What Color Is Your Parachute? but plan to read the newest version. A few years ago, I read Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters. While I didn't end up finding my next two jobs with these methods, they did make a lot of sense and gave me a lot to think about. In the bookstore, I saw this book, Don't Send a Resume, which is kind of similar to "Guerilla Marketing." I plan to pick it up now. I have never read Who Moved My Cheese, but it's been recommended by others. Please contribute any recommended books, strategies or thoughts, for those of us already proceeding with Plan B.

I think it would be even more helpful to be able to talk to an alumnus of the program.

Aw, thanks! Well, the funny thing is that my age is perhaps one of those things that made it possible. When I started the program at 40, I had enough money put away that I was finally semi-comfortable dropping so much money on an advanced degree. This most certainly wasn't true earlier in life, as I would have ended up taking out loans. The job with the university, which was just dumb luck, allowed me to finish without tapping into savings. You definitely should not give up. I think it's just a matter of making it the priority, then kind of working everything else around it. Of course, that's probably easy for me to say as I'm not married and don't have kids.

That was just awesome.

Yes, but it really depends on the program. When I started my master's, I worked (almost) full-time and took 12 credits a week. This got to be a bit much with the 3-hour commute, so when a position opened up at the university, I took that. This got me both an income (a very modest one,) and extremely discounted tuition. If you can find a job within the university, that's definitely a million times easier than holding down a job somewhere else.

My top 2 choices have a ridiculously high rejection rate (almost comical,) and my other 2 choices will probably not be funded if I get in. I'm not going to an unfunded program, so being accepted without funding is pretty much the same thing as being rejected, which is about the same thing as losing the lottery, statistically. At my age (43,) I have decided that this is a one-shot deal, and that if it doesn't happen this time, it's my cue to move on with my life/career, so I won't be reapplying next year. Despite the horrible job market, I'll be more aggressive in my job search and will hopefully move out of my current job. It's a great job, and I'm lucky to have it, but I'm ridiculously overqualified and underpaid for it, especially after completing my long-delayed master's degree. I guess one of the benefits of being older than everyone else applying for PhDs is that I'm quite used to being disappointed and fully expecting Plan Bs, and it's all "old hat, been there, done that." The other positive side is that perhaps my options for Plan B are not really that bad, since I've been working for 20 years and most likely will not end up asking, "would you like fries with that?" at my next job. I've been bookmarking companies/sites/people in preparation for PhD Disappointment 2011, so if and when it happens, I will sulk (and drink) for a while, then just step up the job search.

Yes, I've heard good things about Woodford's Reserve. Will try that next time. I'm pretty much set on Kentucky bourbons and Tennessee sipping whiskies as desk supplies.

Nice job, everyone on picking bourbon as your desk liquor. I'm into Maker's Mark, but I think I need to branch out more.

"The weather sucks there anyway," which is true and is what I will tell myself if I don't get in.

"Thank you for considering our program. Unfortunately, there were many qualified candidates this year, and you were not one of them. We suggest you consider a career in the exciting careers of medical billing, HVAC, or aviation repair instead. We suggest you watch your local daytime television programming on weekdays between Judge Judy and Tyra for institutions suitable for your needs."

I think taking the job would make you a stronger PhD applicant if you decided to do that later on.

Yes, if it hadn't been for my career path, I never would have known of the existence of the programs I applied to. I got sent to a conference a few times by my employer, and after seeing some projects and going to a couple of talks, I realized that there were people doing an academic version of the stuff we made a living doing for commercial projects. When I was an undergrad, most of these programs didn't exist yet. One thing about being in your late 30s early 40s: you're only halfway through your working years! When you're only at the halfway point of your career (and expected lifespan for that matter,) I'm kind of baffled as to how it can be considered too old for a career shift.

That's just harsh!

"It's not you, it's me."

My friend mentioned that some profs might feel threatened. Do you think this is true?

When you get those credit card offers in the mail, stuff the prepaid envelopes with them and drop them in the mail. I usually stuff carpet cleaning coupons, plastic spoons, and new Q-tips in those, but rejection letters will work just as well.

Yipes, that is difficult. I would not accept, then quit, whatever you do. I have a feeling that a place like the CDC has a pretty long memory. Quitting after 5 months might affect your chances to work for them later on.

I actually really like my job, but I'm ridiculously overqualified for it, and the pay is terrible. As if it were some kind of sign or something that I needed to move on, I had two accidents at work recently, first falling down the stairs and landing on my back, then falling again and dislocating my shoulder. It kinda sucked.