Do they have personal assistants for grad students?
These last couple of days, I think I have gotten a real flavor of what an academic life is like. It's all about deadlines! I need a personal assistant.
So deadlines dictate everything - where and when you apply for funding, where and when you apply to present at conferences, how you plan your life around these fundings sources and conference presentations, and what you need to remember to do 12 months from now. Going to do data collection in the Fall was probably not the best idea considering all the deadlines for fellowships are in the fall. But luckily the world wide web has allowed us to be anywhere in the world and still meet those pesky deadlines.
The academic year does, however, have a distinct temperament, flow, pattern. September, October, November: fellowships and conferences, jobs if you're at that stage. January, February, March: post-docs and more fellowships. June, August, September: good months for data collection if your project need not depend on the K-12 school year (bonus if you're doing international work). Somewhere in the mix you apply for teaching jobs, sit on administrative committees, review and edit journal articles, submit even more journal articles for publication, and oh yeah, consult so you can make a few pennies. Because all that other stuff doesn't bring in half as many pennies as the (sell-out) consulting gig on the side does.
Yet, we love it. Academics for the most part absolutely love their jobs. I don't know any people in my field or at my school who hate this job. You don't enter academia because you have to; it's not a means to an end; it's not something that keeps you busy and pays your bills. In my field, it is idealistic, hopeful, dreamy, achievement-oriented, people-oriented, idea-filled, intellectually-driven, and challenging as hell. It's something you realize you just have to do. And you wouldn't be happier doing anything else. I'm psyched for what's to come. I just hope other people understand.
So deadlines dictate everything - where and when you apply for funding, where and when you apply to present at conferences, how you plan your life around these fundings sources and conference presentations, and what you need to remember to do 12 months from now. Going to do data collection in the Fall was probably not the best idea considering all the deadlines for fellowships are in the fall. But luckily the world wide web has allowed us to be anywhere in the world and still meet those pesky deadlines.
The academic year does, however, have a distinct temperament, flow, pattern. September, October, November: fellowships and conferences, jobs if you're at that stage. January, February, March: post-docs and more fellowships. June, August, September: good months for data collection if your project need not depend on the K-12 school year (bonus if you're doing international work). Somewhere in the mix you apply for teaching jobs, sit on administrative committees, review and edit journal articles, submit even more journal articles for publication, and oh yeah, consult so you can make a few pennies. Because all that other stuff doesn't bring in half as many pennies as the (sell-out) consulting gig on the side does.
Yet, we love it. Academics for the most part absolutely love their jobs. I don't know any people in my field or at my school who hate this job. You don't enter academia because you have to; it's not a means to an end; it's not something that keeps you busy and pays your bills. In my field, it is idealistic, hopeful, dreamy, achievement-oriented, people-oriented, idea-filled, intellectually-driven, and challenging as hell. It's something you realize you just have to do. And you wouldn't be happier doing anything else. I'm psyched for what's to come. I just hope other people understand.
posted by Priya @ 3:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home