Primrose

Don't worry, I did not expect a university to hire me for any other reason than for teaching.

Thanks for your reply, KitKat. I've wanted to get my doctorate ever since I graduated from undergrad. My grades were not stellar (2.9 overall, 3.6 within the major). It was my intention, at that time, to go straight through and get the M.A. and Ph.D. I was rejected from the master's program at my undergrad, however, and I majorly lost my way. I was discouraged, ashamed, and decided that English must obviously not be my field. I got an MBA instead, frankly for the lack of other plans, and I ended up getting a teaching license/master's in education a few years after that (I thought that I would teach high school and save money for doctorate work). It was always my intention to teach college with a Ph.D., until I taught high school and did so poorly at it. But I just love academia and want to be part of it. It's the only place I feel really comfortable or at home. A few weeks ago, I got back from a conference at my alma mater held by two profs, and I just felt so energized about life and happy to be alive because I'd had interaction with people who think, open-minded people, people who choose to be intelligent. I guess that I am the reverse from many professors in that I would love the research and publishing, but would not like the teaching (the formal purpose for being at a university!!). I am just thinking that competition for many programs is so competitive, that committees would not wish to waste a spot to anyone who does not want to formally utilize the Ph.D. in the traditional forum. I also worry that not wanting to teach would make me look like an aimless wanderer, a dilettante, to adcoms. That is why I haven't really pursued doctorate level work yet - I know that it is a huge time and money investment (it isn't until gradcafe that I realized that you can try for funding), and it seems irresponsible to make such an investment when I don't want to teach, and would probably be unable to secure work anyway. And I know that most programs have you teach as part of the program, which is also a deterrent. I worry that the undergrads would eat me alive, as did my high school juniors.

Hi, I'm Primrose. I am a recent lurker and a first-time poster. I am wondering if admissions committees to doctoral programs would generally look down on applicants who do not want to teach or who are pretty sure that they don't want to. It makes sense to me that adcoms would reject anyone who didn't want to teach, but I just wanted to get everyone's/anyone's opinion on that. I would like to get the Ph.D. in English lit because I would like to research a lot and have my work taken seriously. I would love, love, love the intellectual camaraderie and stimulation that comes with membership on a faculty. However, I do not think that I was cut out to teach. I tried to teach high school for three years, and was a disaster at it. I understand that high school teaching is not university teaching, but I still don't think that I'd be good at it. I'd love to be good at teaching, but I am not, nor do I think that I could really develop the skills. I still really want the doctorate, though. Any thoughts are welcome.