My grad school experience

02.06.2005

Steph wanted me to describe my early grad school experience, since she's now applying to grad programs herself. What can I say? It has it's own set of rhythms, social patterns, joys, and frustrations. I guess I'll go chronologically.

Frankly, I'm not sure why I decided on grad school. So I won't pretend it was entirely some hugely elaborate "life plan" that propelled me. I'd finished my BS requirements in three years, suddenly panicked about how I wasn't even ready on what to do next, decided to stay an undergrad another year. In that time, a professor encouraged me to go to grad school. So that's what I did. I retroactively set up a plan.

I arrived at WMU in Fall 1997 w/ Sam (my brother), who was starting his undergrad. I only mention that because he was my roommate for almost four years, the last roommate I ever had. But I'm glad it was him, since he's an incredibly studious person (I'm the disorganized lazy bumpkin in the family). Otherwise, I might not have made it through that period. Because, frankly, the first few years of grad school you really have a limited social life.

My first year, I was lucky to have a non-working fellowship. I got to spend all my time studying, w/ no teaching or research assistantship requirements. In short, I had a smooth transition into grad school.

Each semester, I carried the minimum of 9 credits (3 classes). Sometimes I was lucky; one class required little work. But, on average, it meant reading about 300-400 pages per class, per week. W/ a 3-5 page discussion paper due each class. In practice, this meant: three nights on campus in class, three 5-hour days dedicated to reading (one for each class), three 2-hour evenings writing discussion papers, three 1-hour mornings dedicated to looking over notes.

I rarely left the apartment. Every Thursday night (after our last class), a few of my cohort would go out to University Roadhouse for drinks — and to discuss the week's readings (since we were in the same required classes). Once a month or so, we'd have a little soirée at someone's apartment. Perhaps two nights a week, I might head out to Fourth Coast to sit at the bar & catch up on reading. Or in rare cases, read something for fun (still, often a political science book).

By my second year, I'd gotten a good routine down, and was able to accommodate my job as teaching assistant for 105. That merely meant an extra hour twice a week & three hours once a week in class. Plus a few hours once in a while grading. The advantage of being a TA is that you do very little prep work; you just follow the professor's orders, do the grading, and you're done. By this time I'd even managed to set up a research agenda, writing papers for conferences at least once a year.

Still heading out on Thursday nights, and once in a while a get together at someone's apartment. But slowly the attrition rate set in. Some of the MA students didn't continue on to PhDs, and left. Some of the PhD students got caught up in dissertation-related issues. Some people failed comps. Others dropped over personal/family issues.

I took an entire summer, went to live w/ my grandparents in Saginaw, and studied for my comps (comprehensive exams). Three months of virtually no distractions; just me & my reading list. Took my comps in Fall 2000. Somehow, I passed (others weren't so fortunate).

By 2001 I was ABD ("all but dissertation"). No more taking classes. I started teaching my own courses, and began the laboriously painful process of putting together a dissertation committee. By this time, too, most of my cohort was gone (either permanently, or off doing field work).

There's a weird divide between cohorts in grad school. You've taken classes together, spent hours together talking about research interests, debating the readings, encouraging each other. The new cohorts? You don't know much about them, and you (usually) don't really spend enough time w/ them to get to know them that well.

The process by which my dissertation committee was formed is uniquely brutal, and for various reasons I won't go into it here. But what normally should take a few months, took well over a year. So all the time I gained prior to comps, was lost that year. But I ended up w/ a committee, a defended dissertation proposal, and a fieldwork grant (which took another year).

I'm the last of my cohort. I've been in grad school 7½ years (2 years for MA, 5½ for PhD), been ABD for 4. I'm really looking forward to the end, now.

Posted by Miguel at 01:03 PM

Comments

When I'm finished w/law school, that may pretty well be the end of formal education for moi.

I had considered grad school, and always wondered what if. Thanks for telling about experience.

Posted by: tom at February 6, 2005 03:08 PM

Ok, I get it. A good study routine is needed, with lots of concentration and little distractions. Thanks.

Posted by: Stephanie at February 7, 2005 06:57 AM

So, there is a correlation between ABD and increase in social life? N.

Posted by: Nenad at February 7, 2005 07:36 AM

I didn't go on a single date until my third year of grad school.

Posted by: Miguel [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 7, 2005 09:46 AM

Frankly I didn't have much of a social life as an undergrad (until the last semester).

I was thinking grad school would be different.
:P

Posted by: Stephanie at February 7, 2005 11:11 AM

Well, there were actually other reasons why I didn't date my first years in grad school. But those didn't work out.

As for social life, yes, more of a social life in grad school. Of a sort. The first 2-3 years, whent he cohort was still mostly together, we had many discussions about readings, about ideas in political science, etc. It was quite intense, actually, very deep platonic friendships. After the attrition, we mostly ended up along working on our dissertations or doing field work (those who stayed in the program). So I miss that kind of interaction very much. In part why I'm sitting in on the 640 course (many ABDs at some point sit in on a class, I think it's mostly just to feel connected again). I only wish the students in that class where half the caliber that Tim, Dalene, Aparna, Katya, Moataz, Patrick, or Robert where.

Posted by: Miguel [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 7, 2005 11:32 AM

My grad school experience was very different than yours, probably because my school was a "commuter" school. The majority of my classmates were non-traditional students, in that they had worked for years and some even had children my age. I also worked during the day and took classes at night. I think it would have been more fun to experience grad school with classes during the day.

Posted by: eduardo at February 7, 2005 05:55 PM

Well, almost all our classes are at night, actually. But, yes, nearly all the grad students are "full time" grad students. Most teach in the morning, and there are departmental functions often in the middle of the day (brown bags, colloquia, presentations, etc). But we also have some (though not many) who have children, but mostly young ones. It does put a strain on them; I don't know how they manage. Then again, one of my cohort, who had three kids, went through a messy divorce, and ended her grad school career. So not all manage.

Posted by: Miguel [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 7, 2005 09:51 PM

Is that Harbaugh you were talking about in your comment? If so I had him as a TA for PSCI 300. I liked him too, he helped make Dr. Hoffmann's readings more understandable.

Posted by: Kara at February 7, 2005 10:34 PM

Oh yah, Tim, Aparna and Moataz. Awesome people. And Moataz has so much passion in teaching. I got so much out of his PSCI 250 class.

Posted by: Stephanie at February 8, 2005 04:44 AM