What's Plan B for you, if this application season goes awry?

[aec09g]

Feeling a bit pessimistic tonight about my chances of getting into a graduate program (MA or PhD). I blame the fact I had a dinner with my thesis director and his family where I was poked about my thesis and then about graduate programs.

I basically got asked, "What are you back up plans?"

I offered a few. If not a PhD program, hopefully a Master's. If not a Master's, I hope to do Inter-University Center for the Japanese Language Studies to bolster my language skills. If not that, I hope to avoid debt and still gain some experience in Asia by teaching English in South Korea, which is one of the best paying English teaching jobs in Asia.

My director sort of responded and shot down most of my ideas, telling me that I should look further into other options. Now I feel very doomsday about my prospects and feel I should bolster up my Plan B package with more options.

I'm still, of course, applying, and I feel really good about one program who has responded very nicely back to me so far. However, I want to know -- what kind of Plan B do you have? How are you trying to spend a year bettering your application for the next season?

Oh, and context, just in case it gets confusing. I'm a History and Japanese major, graduating this upcoming spring semester, with a focus on modern Japan (social, cultural, race and gender).

[kyjin]

Oh hey! Another Japanese history person! I went to IUC in 2010 if you have any questions about the program.

I really haven't thought about backup plans this time. I always keep an eye out for jobs that I can use my Japanese language skills for, but I'm pretty much throwing it all in for this application cycle. It's possible my department will hire me as a sessional if I don't get in anywhere, but I'd really rather not go that route... Basically, PhD or nothing.

[TMP]

To have a healthy attitude towards "PhD or bust," you need a solid Plan B. That's your adviser's point. The ideas you've suggested aren't long-term positions unless you can see yourself staying in South Korea for several years, not just one year. It is really no fun being in limbo and waiting for a PhD offer each year. I did that for two years and i can tell you, that feeling was really miserable (though I had a blast doing whatever I was doing). I didn't sleep well. I fretted all the time. I turned to marathon training to keep my sanity. Let me tell you this- the night I received my first fully funded PhD offer was the first night in several years that I truly slept peacefully like a baby.

My PhD adviser recently said to me, "If I didn't get into a graduate program, then no big deal. But I did have multiple offers and also got this fancy graduate fellowship. I told myself that if I didn't get the Fulbright, I'd walk away. But I did. And I told myself if I didn't get a tenure track job, then I'd just walk away. But I did." I responded, "Why would you walk away if you didn't accomplish this or that?" Her answer? "Because I had a job in X that I loved and I knew that I could always go back." Failing in academia would be a tragedy for her (as with anyone else) but her world wouldn't fall apart.

I did the same. The sky didn't fall after my second try. Beginning to find some satisfaction in my volunteer work and imagine turning it into a career, I decided that if I didn't get any funded PhD offers in my third round, then I would walk away from what I've accomplished. I would simply start my training in this new career path.

That's your director's point. Make sure you have something that you can actually fall on when things don't work out. Professors do actually like to know that.

[Simple Twist of Fate]

Definitely good to have a backup plan - for the obvious reason, but also because once results start rolling in, it's sort of scary if you see your options in life crumbling one by one. I didn't really have a backup plan, figuring that I would get into one of my schools. But as it happened, I received a whole lot of rejections early on and only got into some schools relatively late in the cycle. So for the better part of a month, I was scrambling around, convinced that the rest of my responses would be rejections, trying to figure out something else to do with my life upon graduation. That wasn't a fun month. Lots of sleepless nights, lots of whining to my girlfriend. Even if you feel your chances are very good, for your own mental health, it really is best to have something else. Especially if you end up on a waitlist. Waitlists are the worst.

OP: I don't think you should feel pessimistic about your chances because your advisor told you to look into other options. He's just looking out for you. However, you do clearly have some other options to think about, which is not a bad start. I have a friend in Taiwan right now doing the teaching-English-abroad thing and he seems to really like it, by the way.

[aec09g]

That's your director's point. Make sure you have something that you can actually fall on when things don't work out. Professors do actually like to know that.

Good point. It's incredibly hard for me to think of something to do with my life, if I wasn't going to get a PhD. Probably work in a company doing translation projects or a museum.

I do think he was pushing me more to find Japanese-centered programs that would pay me while providing language learning opportunities. He really wants me to teach English in Japan as a backup plan, but it's incredibly hard to get into. As challenging program to get accepted into, it seems to be more of Plan A than a Plan B, in my mind.

But regardless, you made a very good point.

OP: I don't think you should feel pessimistic about your chances because your advisor told you to look into other options. He's just looking out for you. However, you do clearly have some other options to think about, which is not a bad start. I have a friend in Taiwan right now doing the teaching-English-abroad thing and he seems to really like it, by the way.

Oh, my advisor is always telling me to look into other things, as back up plans for my back up plans. I just think I was being a bit more sensitive than I usually am, and I really wanted to know what everyone else had, just to get an idea if I wanted to add more back up to my long back up plan list.

I try to always remain positive, but what can I say? It's hard to feel like a really competitive application when you see all the flaws. But having a Plan B has definitely helped me sleep at nights. Teaching English in Korea, I feel, would incredibly fun and give me an opportunity to learn Korean, and I do think I'd still be able to use my Japanese skills whilst there. Plus, the pay isn't bad at all. (:

But thank you for your advice!

Oh hey! Another Japanese history person! I went to IUC in 2010 if you have any questions about the program.

I really haven't thought about backup plans this time. I always keep an eye out for jobs that I can use my Japanese language skills for, but I'm pretty much throwing it all in for this application cycle. It's possible my department will hire me as a sessional if I don't get in anywhere, but I'd really rather not go that route... Basically, PhD or nothing.

Hi! (:

Well, currently I'm uncertain of the program, due to its very high fees. I hope there is funding opportunities for it, because even if I was accepted, I can't go into more debt these days. But I definitely understand what you mean.

Edited October 1, 2012 by aec09g

[CrazyCatLady80]

Even thinking about a Plan B is scary. Honestly, I really don't know what I would if I wasn't accepted into a PhD program. Prior to grad school, I was an archivist for five years. For a variety of reasons, it did not work out. I was working mostly temp and part time jobs. I wasn't happy. I have a MLS so I guess I could go more the librarian route, but honestly it will be difficult getting a job after being out the field for so long. The idea of having two master degrees, can't find any work, and still living at home is absolutely petrifying. That is why I feel like I have one shot at this and I better do it right.

[salexa]

My Plan B for not getting into a PhD program is doing my MA.

I got my BA in 2011 and I've been in the workforce for over a year now. By the time I would start grad school in Fall 2013, I'll have been in the corporate workforce for 2.5 years. The best part about my experience in the corporate world was that it showed me that I need to pursue my academic goals at all costs.

[lafayette]

My plan B is to keep on working. I do have those irksome student loans after all, and I do have to eat -- and well, there are other professions, and sometimes the only way to get into those is just working and working. I do intend to apply again next year if I get shut out this round (which is TOTALLY possible & if it does, it is OK, totally ok). I might go into an archival MLIS program, as ill-advised as that is for most these days, as I have some experience in archives and have some tech skills that might get me one of the few jobs opening up in that field. But I'll really consider that at a later point.

I think it makes everyone feel good to have some inkling of a plan B, but do know that most undergraduates don't have an exact plan for their life post-graduation, and even if they do, it might never come to fruition. When I graduated undergrad I had one plan: get a job. (And of course it was not the sexy museum job that I would have liked but many were competing for). At the very least, work experience can help you discover what you DON'T want to do, or even open up some new and unexpected pathways to explore if the whole PhD application thing goes sour. What I am getting at is, while it's not always the easiest to get a good job these days, don't sicken yourself with worry! You are going to find something and you have time still to figure out the long term goals. School is not always and need not be the path to one's future career, as most of my friends have realized as they slowly figure out their professional careers.

PS: this was directed to the undergrad who initially posted this. I know how it is to have a Master's degree and feel even MORE unemployable. But keep on keepin' on!

Edited October 18, 2012 by lafayette