Book Review: Should I Go to Grad School? 41 Answers to an Impossible Question.
Edited by Jessica Loudis, Bosko Blagojevic, John Arthur Peetz, and Allison Rodman. Bloomsbury USA. 2014.
Review by Deborah Straw
Should I Go to Grad School? is a fun book to read. The writing is good; the stories are fascinating; there is a rich blend of humor and honesty, and a touch of regret. A few of the writers are famous people; many are unknown except in their fields. Some write of a different time, the 60s or 70s, or even 80s, when job requirements and expectations were quite, if not radically, different. These are, by and large, narrative stories of their academic and professional lives, some more didactic than others.
Should I Go to Grad School? Who among us adjuncts (those without a terminal degree) hasn’t asked that question? For most, the idea appeals because of our optimism about completing the groundwork for a tenured position. But the other reasons are appealing, too: greater knowledge, the possibility of working with remarkable scholars, or proving one’s ability to finish the course. All are valid. The drawbacks? A few years of a life and usually a huge price tag.
The forty-one essays in this book are primarily written by highly-creative people in the arts, poets, writers, painters, sculptors, composers, professors. Two of the writers self-identify as “drop-outs.” Most selections are written in a conversational style—a few are more academically-inclined.
The editors admit this anthology is aimed at those who want “master’s degrees in things like English and history, MFA in art and poetry, and doctoral degrees in the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences.” The editors believe that these degrees have a “high likelihood of not paying off on the investment.” They wanted to investigate what people go back to school for and how their personalities, circumstances and future prospects play into their decisions. They hoped to provide a “broad, unempirical look” at how many people in the fields listed here have considered and/or entered grad school.
The editors state they had no bias as they began the book. They feel that if a person has good friends and colleagues and asks appropriate questions, that person can lead a good life, whether or not she goes to grad school.
One of the most enlightening and enjoyable essays is by Josh Boldt. Boldt, one of the few to mention adjuncts, was the founder and writer for the online Adjunct Project and an adjunct in English at the University of Georgia. His advice: if you decide to apply and actually go, “Make connections with professors…Think seriously about job skills… Seek out internships and volunteer opportunities.” He admits he learned some of his academic lessons the hard way – for example, no one told him about the highly-competitive job market. “The key to getting the most out of grad school is to be intentional. Know why you’re going, and have a plan – and maybe a couple contingency plans, too.”
Based on what he has found, he writes, “ The unfortunate reality of the academic job market is that a slim fraction of grad students will succeed, but the vast majority will not.”
Stephen Burt, a professor at Harvard and prolific author, writes his essay in a question and response format. For the English types out there, he says, “Many graduates of elite programs [in creative writing] never get full-time teaching jobs, especially if they’re restricting themselves to one region (e.g., the Northeast.)” And rather glumly, he writes, “Some people in some grad programs in the humanities find a truly supportive, charismatic and yet intimate, ideally attentive mentor. Most don’t.”
Nevertheless, he comes down on the side of attending grad school. For him, it was absolutely the right course. “For some people, going to graduate school would be letting your youth go to waste. For others – and I was one of them – it would be more wasteful not to go.”
Andrea Fraser is an artist and a professor of new genres in the Department of Art at UCLA. When she became an artist, instead of grad school, she joined reading and study groups and enrolled in independent studies at places such as the Whitney Museum and spent two years at the School of Visual Arts. She did not even consider getting an MFA. She admits that her trajectory is almost “inconceivable” in today’s New York art world.
She notes, “There is also an expanding academically based art world, represented not by the growth of MFA programs so as much as by the emergence of art practice Ph.D. programs…” She asks her students, who she is “guide[ing] to degrees that I myself do not have…” “ What is it that you really want from art?… I would … hope that they spare themselves from going deep into debt for an MFA degree.”
Amy Sillman is another artist who worked for 11 years in magazine production. In the 1990s, these creative yet manual jobs became obsolete. She got a fine arts teaching job and then decided to obtain her MFA. She attended Bard, and although she expresses a mixed review of her entire educational background, Bard was her best experience. When people ask her if they should get an MFA, she answers that it still may not be necessary, “but it can make your life more interesting.” She has taught at Bard and in Frankfurt, Germany, and is a practicing artist based in Brooklyn. Obviously, the MFA opened certain doors.
Is there a definitive answer in the responses to Should I Go To Grad School? I’d say about half and half— those in favor of or those not finding it necessary or even helpful, especially considering the long-lasting debt.
The answer depends, in large part, on your goals, your field, and your geographic area. Even if you’re in technology or the hard sciences, you may glean some information about preliminary decision-making steps from this lively, informative book.
