Jon (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} oswaldtherabbit) wrote,@ 2006-07-05 12:58:00 |
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so...
this is the summer in which (ideally) I would start thinking about potential graduate programs. The problem is, I'm not sure I want to do it. Graduate programs in literature often strike me as fairly repulsive, with backbiting, antisocial grad students playing their little games of Where's Waldo with great literature...there's MFA programs, but those serve little practical purpose aside from the (admittedly important) aspect of networking, but again the impact of that is negligible if one doesn't happen to get into, say, Cornell or Berkeley or something...(I would've liked to have studied under John Barth at Johns Hopkins, but that college is damned expensive and he's retired).
I could always get David Foster Wallace as a professor at Pomona in California. I think he only works with undergrads, though. (The rumor mill also tells me that he will bite the ass of any student who brings up his work in class).
Also, I don't want to be one of those people who suckle at the tit of graduate studies for years and never actually get a real life. So it comes down to three post-undergrad options:
1. attend grad school in Madison (pros: (comparatively) cheap, easy. cons: may lead to emotional degradation, Kafkaesque apartmental existence, eventual suicide.
2. attend grad school out-of-state (pros: greater opportunity, greater opportunity for experiences. cons: don't know anyone, will completely destroy my bank account and force me to live in poverty for many years, completely take up all my free time and eliminate most social interaction (not that there's inordinate amounts of that right now).
3. continue work at Cygnus, get that elusive "1-2 yrs. experience" so sought-after on job applications, move away, preferably to sunny California. I don't think I can handle many more winters here. The cold and darkness will kill me. (pros: greatest security. able to save (some) cash. job experience. gain "maturity". cons: very, very boring for those 2 years of working. I want to get out of here now.)
Ahhh, who knows. The only thing that's certain is I will move out.
this is the summer in which (ideally) I would start thinking about potential graduate programs. The problem is, I'm not sure I want to do it. Graduate programs in literature often strike me as fairly repulsive, with backbiting, antisocial grad students playing their little games of Where's Waldo with great literature...there's MFA programs, but those serve little practical purpose aside from the (admittedly important) aspect of networking, but again the impact of that is negligible if one doesn't happen to get into, say, Cornell or Berkeley or something...(I would've liked to have studied under John Barth at Johns Hopkins, but that college is damned expensive and he's retired).
I could always get David Foster Wallace as a professor at Pomona in California. I think he only works with undergrads, though. (The rumor mill also tells me that he will bite the ass of any student who brings up his work in class).
Also, I don't want to be one of those people who suckle at the tit of graduate studies for years and never actually get a real life. So it comes down to three post-undergrad options:
1. attend grad school in Madison (pros: (comparatively) cheap, easy. cons: may lead to emotional degradation, Kafkaesque apartmental existence, eventual suicide.
2. attend grad school out-of-state (pros: greater opportunity, greater opportunity for experiences. cons: don't know anyone, will completely destroy my bank account and force me to live in poverty for many years, completely take up all my free time and eliminate most social interaction (not that there's inordinate amounts of that right now).
3. continue work at Cygnus, get that elusive "1-2 yrs. experience" so sought-after on job applications, move away, preferably to sunny California. I don't think I can handle many more winters here. The cold and darkness will kill me. (pros: greatest security. able to save (some) cash. job experience. gain "maturity". cons: very, very boring for those 2 years of working. I want to get out of here now.)
Ahhh, who knows. The only thing that's certain is I will move out.
