Comments | jericho_hill: Further Away Than It Appears

jericho_hill

Further Away Than It Appears

Apr 28, 2008 12:45

Hello to all my old livejournal friends who've followed me over to my new journal. I needed a change, because my old journal suffered from a split personality, of who I was when I first started blogging versus who I am today. Fast forward from 2002, and my life did, and did not, follow the path I thought it would ( Read more... )

Comments 4

picture_kept April 28 2008, 18:05:03 UTC

Lots of luck to you in the PhD program!

pizza_snob April 28 2008, 20:44:20 UTC

I've only known you a short while, but I would say that you are definitely Ph.D material, and would fit in AcademicLand without a problem if you chose that path. I chose the Ph.D route so I could teach. However, I took a non-teaching job before the dissertation was finished, but managed to finish 1.5 years later. The dot-com boom was on and I had to stash some cash in a 401k while the stashing was good. The following year I changed jobs and started college teaching and have been doing so ever since. The consequence of taking a 30 percent pay cut is that I spend sooo much more time doing my job now than I did when I was a 9-5er. Those 3 months off in the summer are worked during the other 9. Despite this, my schedule is extremely flexible, and I go home at night liking my job. I may grumble about my lack of time, but I'm nearly my own boss. For me, the extra time spent in school has been worth it in the long run. I hope you will find the same is true for your own personal happiness ( ... )

jericho_hill April 29 2008, 16:12:47 UTC

Thanks for the good wishes. I'm not thinking of getting a PhD to go into AcademicLand, as I'm not sure I want to get involved in the journal paper mill that it becomes at big universities. I think I can easily move around in the government working on making our economic analysis better, and I'll still have time to publish in the arenas I'm interested in.

I had a few friends in the Master's program at GW, and I got a professorial recommendation back. I just heard from that professor and he's going to speak on my behalf to the committee, so I've got some additional support.

It'll be tight with money for awhile as part-timers don't get financial aid, and GW is expensive. But I've already got two years saved up, so I should be just fine if the worst case occurs and I don't get OPM to fund part of my education.

the_leewit May 1 2008, 08:42:48 UTC

You may have seen, but thought you'd like--- link to transcript included.

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010186.html