please help!!!!!!

[katanianQ]

(sorry to cross post, but since there was not a lot of info over in literature, I thought I'd throw this out to a wider audience)

So I am very seriously considering a literature PhD program in a non english speaking European country. The school is well ranked and has an excellent rep within the country, and the faculty is excellent (coming from american ivies and the brit equivalents, have published extensively, etc).

Also, I don't think it behooves me to spend 5-6 years (and $40,000) in an american program when the job prospects are so completely shit. I just don't think it's the right decision for me.

(the european program would be free for me and would only take approx 3 years since it is by research.)

The problem is that I am having a very difficult time locating information about how competitive this degree would be on the job market. I am NOT looking for R1 craziness or anything near that- I'd be very happy at a small liberal arts college or non flagship ok state school.

Does anyone have any info about people/professors who have done this??

Thanks in advance....please help!!!!!!!

[thepoorstockinger]

It might help to actually tell us what school it is.

[katanianQ]

aristotle university in greece

[brinswan]

That would be a lovely place to spend 3 years and if it really is completely free then maybe it wouldn't be such a bad decision, but I don't know about finding a job, what about getting an MA there and using it to jump off to a funded usa phd? or do you already have an ma. I think if you have some sort of back up plan in case you can't find an academic position, then it would work. A PhD in English literature certainly wouldn't be a black spot on your resume. Just a thought, although I know nothing - how would you feel about potentially teaching at a prep school? To me this seems more feasible. But then again I know nothing.

[katanianQ]

yep, I already have an M.Phil.. I wouldn't be opposed to a prep school or a high school eventually, I guess. I've just been in the 'working world' for a few years and I know what its like to be an overworked untenured prof w little pay..

Do you know anyone who has come out of that university?

[brinswan]

No I don't, sorry. My field isn't English and I'm not familiar with the University itself, all I know about it is just from having visited Thessaloniki (and also the unfortunate fact that the University stands on the ruins of Salonica's old Jewish cemetery). Is there no one at the department you can ask about this? Intuitively speaking it seems more likely that you'd have better luck using a PhD from a European country at other countries where English is not the official language. So if you're intent on moving back to the USA upon completion I could imagine it would be difficult to find a job, considering the abundance of PhDs in English literature here in the USA, where there is the significant advantage of it simply being an Anglophone country. But I could see something like that being useful in other countries. Or again, in a prep school (these schools really do seem to pay well, from what I've heard, and I think a "tenure" kind of deal is also relatively common) where the name of the institution probably doesn't matter as much. Maybe if you could somehow make the Greek ties an advantage to a US institution that might hire you not so much for the English literature but for the Greek connection. I'm not sure how that would work but maybe you could figure it out - like talking about English writers romanticizing Greece? Just a thought. That might put an interesting twist on it. But really I know absolutely nothing about the field. Are you familiar with the chronicle forums? You might have better luck there, as the people who post there are largely faculty members.

[katanianQ]

thanks very much.. I appreciate your 2 cents and I think you have a good point about utilizing the greek connection..