The accidently doctor

[jawnbc]

It may surprise some, but I never intended to get a PhD. Really.

My undergraduate years, as a continuation of primary and secondary school, were characterized by cynicism about the whole educational enterprise. However I realized that a BA/BSc/BWoteva was gonna be the new Grade 12, so I scurried through. By then I had clearly severed learning from school. I had no career aspirations or focus ("I like working with people. I can drink a whole 24 of beer in about 4 hours."). I continued to read widely.

In 1995 I did one of those "I have no idea what kind of job to get, so long as it's not in the career I've been trapped in for the last decade" courses, thanks to unemployment Employment Insurance. We did Myers-Briggs, we did tiddly winks, we were inventoried until our holes bled. Most people got things like "you could be a pilot, or entrepreneur or stand up comedian." Me? I got "adult education".

I had been a travel agent corporate travel consultant for several years, which was no longer fun. As that career course ended I scanned a job ad to Teach the Travel Agents of Tomorrow. I applied. I had an interview/audition. I got the gig. I was an adult educator. Woot!

This meant I was a contractor, and I didn't get paid for prep time. I only worked 25 hours a week, but made as much as I did as a full-time agent. I had afternoons off. It worked for me. But the owner of the school was a harpee, who nickle-dimed us all to death. The only way I could increase my wages would be to get an education credential. My choices were a provincial instructor diploma, or a masters in adult education.

I chose another job, and left teaching. That job lead to another (in research), which led me to be ready to go to grad skool. In adult education. I figured, get a Masters in a year, increase my billable rate, go back to afternoons off. And I already was a university employee so the fees would be waived. Of course my undergraduate grades were mediocre (77%), so I wasn't sure I'd even get in.

I got in. And pretty quickly switched from doing an M Ed (no thesis) to MA (thesis). I found grad skool focussed on--no, celebrated--the ability to give a reasoned, evidenced opinion. They wanted to know what I thought--something no one seemed to want during my BA.

My work ethic is anal explosive: full-on or zzzzz. So I did all my coursework--8 graduate courses--in 6 months (5 in the summer, 3 in the autumn). All I had left was the thesis, so my plan to finish in 1 year was on track. Except I crashed and burned, and didn't get to the thesis for another 9 months. And, just when I started it, I fell off my hog scooter and broke both arms. By then I was fed up and over the whole thing. So I met with one of my profs: I wanted to skip the thesis, get the MEd and get out of dodge. Which meant getting a second "reader" for my final project; she suggested this prof, who was one of my first grad skool teachers. She said "there is no way jawnbc isn't doing a thesis--have him fire his current supervisor, we'll take him on and get him through. He shouldbe doing a doctorate."

Oh. I've never been great at saying no to strong women--especially when they're right--so I fired the fella I was working with, hired those two and within a month was nearly done a draft. So we set a deadline of 01 April. A week later a new PhD scholarship was announced for innovative social science research in health and medicine. I asked if I should apply, and they said "sure. when's it due?" 01 April. D'oh!

I figured, why no. So I did both, and got them both in on time. I had about 7 weeks to wait for my thesis defense, and I was supposed to know about the scholarship the week before. I heard nothing, so I sheepishly called the funding agency. "Oh! You're getting a special letter this week or next! You didn't get the scholarship--we got you a super-duper national scholarship with more money!" OK, maybe not those exact words, but that was the gist.

So I had 3 years of salary, plus travel and research money. I'd not yet been admitted to the PhD program (but if you've got $$, and someone willing to work with you, they'll always take you), but that came through pretty soon after.

It wasn't until the last year of my PhD (I actually scored a 4th year of funding, but wanted to get on with my life so I finished in 3), that I sort of seriously considered being a university-based academic.

Comments

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

As much as I love being a student and doing research I was thinking today while sitting in on a lecture, that I should really be sitting in the classroom working on a Ph.D. I wonder what I'd have to do to get on with it. And, like you said, if I'm already an employee, even though adjunct, if I could get scholarship monies. I know it would damn well help with some other things I want to do in research. Independent scholars not on the art history track seem to get bumped off the tracks for some reasons. Maybe it's just the continual looking down at studio artists. Of course, studio artists love to use excuses for not being able to write or do simple math, yet are capable of attaining master's degrees. I'll check into it I think...

[jawnbc]

You're asking the right sort of questions. Can I pose some back?

Do you want a specific PhD or a PhD? Either answer is OK, and the second one will give you clearer criteria by which to choose. You have arts available, but also museumology, education, even communications.

Are you wedded to your location? If not, you've a much better chance of getting funded--strangely.

Do you have at least one person of note in your field who will write you a "Onajide is bloody brilliant and you'd be lucky to have him" letter?

[art-thirst.livejournal.com]

A letter of note from someone other than a co-worker, yes. A museum director and Robert F. Thompson, African and African American Art Hist. Yale Univ. and possibly John Henry Drewel, African Art Hist. WISC Univ. Madison. Also there is the possibility of getting a new letter from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Harvard Univ. WEB DuBois Institute.

Ph.D. program I was thinking about was art history. I don't have enough credits to do education or communications. We have a museum studies program but, it's not enough for a degree. However, an art hist. degree will get you in most museums. A studio degree, masters, will also.

I'm not wedded to my location but, I haven't yet found a way to get away from here.

[jawnbc]

Wow--why not go to Harvard or Wisconsin then? letters from those kind of folks should get you the $$$.

Pssst: most folks who do Education have no education credits. Zero. Pick a department that offer Educational Studies, where the notion of education isn't limited to schools.

How about African American studies? American studies?

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this post. It gives me...hope? Food for thought? Not sure. Anyhow, thanks.

[jawnbc]

Yay! And if you're now landed (or will be soon), there's a range of funding available, particularly if you wanna do doctoral work in basic or applied science (humanities and social sciences are harder to fund).

Are you legal yet?

[danthered.livejournal.com]

Not yet; still in the holding pattern elucidated here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/danthered/188983.html). Took my medical exam on 3 September, paid my Right of Permanent Residence Fee, and now...just...waiting to be invited to present my passport for inclusion of a landing visa. The waiting's kind of harder now, 'cause this is, y'know, it. Do or die, yes or no territory. Well, that and I've also applied for renewal of my Visitor Record (which, as you know, is the most grudging kind of we-nearly-said-no permission CIC grants) pending completion of my application for permanent residence.

But with that griping out of the way, I have been thinking about "What next?". It's been a weird few years on one temporary permit after another, each with strict conditions...no joining the Canadian workforce, no going to school, etc. It occurred to me the other day that I've sort of been held hostage to myself for the last few years of this immigration process. So, assuming a positive outcome, what next?

Well, I donno. I am fairly sure I might eventually go back to school, but in what field? Mine, I suppose—automotive lighting and related—but to what end I haven't worked out. It'd be good to study optics so I could get the basics down (I already know the advanced theory inside and out...this kind of bassackwards approach is typical for me), but this will require a great deal of catchup in maths. I do wish I'd applied myself harder in maths classes during school, but I didn't. So, what'll it be? Do I want to design optics? Mmmmmaybe. Do researchy/write-y type things? Probably, I do that already. I've already got half a dozen research concepts, most of which could probably be parlayed into thesis projects with the proper audience and funding.

I'm terrified and intrigued at the same time. Undergrad, particularly the last 2.5 years, was a hell of a race. It was touch and go for awhile there whether I'd finish uni before being overwhelmed by the prodigious bullshit that went with the undergrad academic experience. Also, I was a rotten student by dint of laziness. So I might be a better student as an adult, but I'm just guessing/hoping/wishing, etc.

Blah.

[jawnbc]

It sounds to me like you've invested in your future the last couple of years. Folks who can't exercise prodigious patience won't ever get the sort of opportunity you're creating for yourself in Canada.

As for the rest...it's sooo different doing it as a grown up. And you're treated with a higher regards--mostly.

[logisticslad.livejournal.com]

Since earning my Ph.D. in 1993, my advice to all of my students and student wannabees is "Don't do it unless you really want what comes after it." Getting a Ph.D. or any kind of graduate degree is very hard work and often requires great sacrifice (either financially or personally). The process can be very ego-destroying and often leads one to wonder whether it is worth it. Getting a Ph.D. is most like agreeing to apprentice oneself to a craftmaster, in that one forms this intense mentoring relationship that defines one's professional development. However, if one survives the process, it can be extremely rewarding.

[jawnbc]

I think your experience is common in science and applied science more than other disciplines. Something a few folks shine in, and a few folks get stuffed up in. One of my best pals is a physiologist: I wouldn't want his life (lab management, 5 staff to supervise, plus all the stuff I do) in a million years.

What's your fudd in?

[logisticslad.livejournal.com]

My degree is in Neuropsychopharmacology, and my specialty is developing models to test the effects of drugs on the brain and spinal cord that change behavior. I do indeed have a life of supervising a staff, managing a lab, and doing a lot of teaching (which I most enjoy). It works very well for me, but it is clearly not for everyone.