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Thread: Daughter just received PhD fellowship offer/acceptance. Tough decision time ahead.

  1. #1
    Site Supporter JohnO's Avatar
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    Daughter just received PhD fellowship offer/acceptance. Tough decision time ahead.

    My oldest daughter applied to a few PhD programs in her area, English with a specialty in Creative Writing. She worked for a couple years after undergrad. Then secured a fellowship where she taught undergrad English and earned a Master of Fine Arts. Since her MFA she has been working on a book, publishing in academic journals and teaching at a private prep school. She has asperations of a university professorship.

    As I understand it: The MFA is considered a terminal degree but needs accompanying notoriety and publishing creds to move up to a university professorship. Additional academic work, she tells me is becoming required as there are now many MFA's. My daughter was not really certain if she wanted to go back to school as a student. However she figured applying doesn't mean you have to go and if you don't apply then the option will never be on the table.

    Yesterday afternoon my daughter received a phone call from as she described, a luminary in her field at a university where she applied. This professor and the university offered her a Fellowship and acceptance into their PhD program. A formal package with all details is forthcoming. She was told, "based on the strength of your application and your credentials expect other offers but please let us know, we really want you!". It sounds like they want to fight for her or would be willing to sweeten the pot?

    Other offers may yet materialize? There is one place she has yet to hear from and she said she would accept in a heartbeat. The Stegner Fellowship! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegner_Fellowship There would be no degree here however my daughter said Stegner alums can write their own ticket and have to beat off the offers with a stick.

    She is now faced with a decision making process that may get easier or more difficult, time will tell. If she accepts the offer currently on the table she would have to leave her job in Boston, relocate out west and become a student again! Since she is home visiting I can see she is already wrestling with yesterday's good news.

  2. #2
    banana republican blues's Avatar
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    Either way, congratulations. You both done good...obviously.
    There's nothing civil about this war.

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  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by blues View Post
    Either way, congratulations. You both done good...obviously.
    This.
    #RESIST

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    Congratulations

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    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    The time to sell out is when people are buying. I hope she gets the fellowship offer—but that said, any schooling that one doesn’t have to pay for is probably worthwhile. Congrats on the good problem to have.
    ”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB

  6. #6
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
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    Awesome! Congrats.

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    Congrats to both of you, Dad!
    "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

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    Congratulations to you both!!!

    Please keep us in the loop on how this plays out and the rationales re same
    I am not your attorney. I am not giving legal advice. Any and all opinions expressed are personal and my own and are not those of any employer-past, present or future.

  9. #9
    Site Supporter dogcaller's Avatar
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    That’s awesome! Good job, Dad—and daughter!

  10. #10
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    First, congratulations on receiving an offer and a fellowship. It is exceedingly rare to be offered fellowships in the humanities.

    Next - your daughter should consider which "tier" of university professorship she wants.

    Roughly universities and colleges are broken down along their research line outputs and degrees offered.

    Tier 1: Doctorates tendered in many fields. Research output high. Grant income high. Research/writing takes precedence over teaching. Teaching "load" (number of courses are hours taught) will be low (1-2 courses per year). These will be your Ivy, premier state universities, etc.

    Tier 2: Master's degrees tendered in many fields, perhaps one or two doctorate programs. Research output is high, but less than Tier 1 (less people to do it). Teaching will be emphasized more here, but still a clearly second chair priority to research/writing. Teaching load will be moderate 2-4 courses a year. These will be your medium level state universities and smaller private institutions.

    Tier 3: "Teaching Universities" - Master's degrees offered in a few fields, minimal research output, teaching is the main emphasis. Teaching load will be high, 4-6 courses per year. Research/Writing will be secondary or even tertiary to teaching. These will be your liberal arts colleges, smaller public institutions, commuter schools, and to a degree even community colleges.

    ---

    The institution she wants to work out will dictate her path. Short of writing an international best seller, chances are low she'll be able to get a Tier 1 professorship without a PhD. And even if she did, chances are doubly good, that she would not be treated with the same respect as a "credentialed" colleague.

    Chances are still low for Tier 2 jobs, but much higher as her publication output increases. A PhD would set her up well, but isn't as necessary as Tier 1.

    Tier 3 - can be a free for all.

    My advice to all young grad students, regardless of field is - if you aren't sure where you want to go - aim for the top. And do the work to try to get there. Then, if you decide later, "Nah, fuck this." You're well prepared to stop at your chosen level. But if you aim low and then decide you want to go high, you're facing a tough climb to get there.

    If she isn't sure - she can look at job postings on HigherEdJobs and see if there are things that speak to her in the adverts.

    Beyond this, I suggest she find a strong, experienced, mentor and ask a lot of questions. In terms of accepting this offer or that offer - my default advice is to talk to the potential PhD Advisor's existing or recent PhD students and/or post-docs. Talk to students in the department. They will give you the straight dope. She should evaluate the success (or lack of) of recent graduates of both the potential advisor and the department.

    Ideally, the advisor and department have strong support from current and recent members. And those people are getting high quality positions that reflect a robust, supportive, and productive culture.

    By contrast if many recent grads can't get jobs, are demotivated, and have negative or negatively-inflected things to say about the department/uni/prof/etc. Run, don't walk, away. Many folks get desperate and believe they can "suck up a bad situation", because it was a "good" offer.

    And to them I note - the halls are lined with the remnants of long-dead careers and shattered hopes and dreams, because folks set themself up for failure. I do not want to see anyone do that to themselves. The easiest way to avoid that is to not jump into a sinking ship.

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