Grad. School and the City

“To Atlantic Avenue” Believe it or not, the photo above is actually of a miniature sculpture by artist Alan Wolfson. You can see more of his work in The Huffington Post’s recent article.

“New York is my campus. Fordham is my school.” This is Fordham’s (relatively new, I believe) slogan. Though I’m sure it’s mostly meant to describe undergrads who are often asked to incorporate the city into their class assignments, our lives as graduate students are also influenced by the location of our school.

This blog is about graduate life in general but also about Fordham in particular, and I recently realized that I haven’t really talked much about the experience of going to school in a boroughs of NYC. Maybe that’s because I grew up right across the river and don’t remember my first visit to the city. The skyline was always just there (trust me, it’s a way better view from the NJ side of the river). In any case, it’s certainly true that city life is a big part of a Fordham grad. student’s experience.

In fact, because so many graduate students commute, either from another burrow or another state, New York City’s public transportation system is something many of us are forced to become intimate with. And, let me tell you, intellectual stimulation happens on the go as well. For example, as my friend was re-reading Frankenstein for her comps. exam on her commute home one day, she got hit on no less than three times, and every guy mentioned the book she was reading as an opening. One guy even tried to start a discussion of “transhumanism.” No, I’m not joking.

I often find myself wanting to record events I observe on my commute home, especially on the subway. I had a friend who once told me that she prefers NYC’s public transportation system to anywhere else’s because “nobody will bother you if you cry on the subway in New York.” Her observation points to why observing people on the NYC subway is so interesting—NYC’s anonymity really encourages people to act like nobody is watching, even in public. Which makes them perfect to watch!

Riding the subway when I’m just coming home from class and am already primed for analysis makes me feel kind of like an anthropologist in the field. Sometimes, I even take notes:

An Excerpt from “The Subway Diaries”

Why is it that people sit next to themselves on the subway?

The South Asian man sits next to the South Asian woman, the black woman next to another black woman, the stereotypical Hispanic man next to yet another stereotypical Hispanic man..and the short, pale brunette with the pointy nose next to me.

So many other choices of empty seats, but the woman who chose to sit next to me could play my stunt double in a movie.

Sure, you could just do your homework on the commute home. But what’s the point of going to grad. school in the city if you can’t analyze it to death? Right?

Alex

PS If anyone else has fun NYC-related stories, please share!

Arts vs. Sciences?

Is this an Arts brain or a Sciences brain? Can YOU tell?

As readers of this blog know, though this blog is sponsored by Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts AND Sciences it leans heavily towards the “Arts” part, better known as the humanities. Since I, the writer, am an English major, this is probably natural. Of course, I have always made an effort to address the math and science-y side of things, but I’m not very well-versed in these disciplines, and so I’m sure I’ve missed something here and there. The thing is, I don’t dislike the sciences. In fact, I’m not even scared of them. What I’m scared of is math. I think I developed a block around 5^th grade when they switched me from the dumb math class to the smart math class and I couldn’t catch up, so then by the time I got switched back to the dumb math class I’d missed things and I was totally confused. Yep. Ever since then I’ve been afraid of math. I have a deep psychological fear that I am going to add 3 + 3 and make a stupid mistake and get 9 (see what I did there? I multiplied instead. Embarrassing fact: I’ve actually done that on tests before because I get so nervous).

But this fear of math shouldn’t keep me back from things I enjoy, science-y subjects like astronomy. And I try not to let it. But the problem seems to be that, even in schools like GSAS which are supposed to incorporate the arts and the sciences, the divide is jut too wide, especially by the time we get to grad. school. This isn’t any particular school’s fault either…it simply seems to be the nature of the American education system. An author of an interesting article in The Chronicle seems to think that this is because, as a nation, we do not value "science literacy." “I have no memories of my science and math professors telling us that reading and writing were unimportant or optional. I can’t say the same for my humanities professors,” he says. 

In my experience, though, this isn’t the problem. In fact, I never had any humanities professors say science wasn’t important. On the other hand, I have had a math teacher (not professors mind you, a teacher in high school) who insisted that everyone must love math and who questioned the value of studying something like English in college. The humanities are often viewed as “soft” by these kinds of people. Hence the term “hard sciences.”

In all honesty, I think the problem doesn’t lie with who places too little value on what. That just ends up turning into an unproductive blame game. Everyone always has a bias…it’s almost as natural to favor your own subject and others like it as it is to favor your own children. The problem is that teachers at all levels, from elementary to graduate school, and in all subjects, from English to Physics, are usually “naturals” in whatever field they teach. Because of this, they often don’t know how to teach to people who don’t grasp it as quickly and instinctively. I felt this problem first hand in middle and high school. The year I got a math teacher who knew how to (and took the time to) explain math to my English-major brain, I suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore. I could do math. I got A's. Then, the next year, I got another teacher who didn’t know what he was doing and it was back to the fear. I noticed the same kind of thing happening for the people who went on to do things like Physics and Economics in college. Though many of them generally feared writing essays, there was one English teacher who just made everyone understand how to put together a sentence, or how to present evidence or create a convincing thesis statement. In her class, with her training, everyone could write a decent paper. 

If we’re not going to bring the disciplines closer together, which I know would be very difficult now that everyone has become so specialized, the Chronicle author is right: we have to do something about all this earlier, in elementary, middle, and/or high school. But I don’t think his proposal is quite the solution. Teachers from all subjects and at all levels need to embrace the importance of all others. We need to be at least a little more interdisciplinary in our thinking, even if we’re not part of a more interdisciplinary department like American Studies. A liberal arts education isn’t actually supposed to be, as he seems to think, all about the humanities. At least that’s not my understanding of it. The liberal arts education so touted in America is supposed to create well-rounded individuals who have experience in the humanities, the social sciences, the hard sciences, and anything else you can think of. We need to remember this and start to make sure students appreciate every discipline early. We need to learn how to teach to people who don’t just “get it” right away. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to make people teach subjects they weren’t necessarily inclined to. I know the Jesuit Pedagogy Seminar here at Fordham makes students sit in on classes that are outside of their departments, and I think that’s a really good start.

One of the most rewarding experiences I ever had was subbing for an afterschool program called “Hands on Science” as a college freshman in Swarthmore, PA the year before I transferred to Barnard. Having to explain basic science concepts to elementary school students, making science exciting for them even though it wasn’t “my thing” (I guess my thing would be teaching them how exciting reading can be), helped me appreciate my peers who were still studying things like Biology on a more advanced level. Plus, there’s nothing like being the first one to teach a whole group of kids what ROY G BIV means. Even if I am an English major.

Alex

‘To sleep, perchance to dream…’

I managed to get through undergrad. without pulling a single all-nighter. Not a real one, at any rate. There were a couple of times I got only 3.5 hours sleep or so, but that wasn’t so different from my normal 4-6 hours a night. It wasn’t until I got to grad. school that I experienced the strange feeling of staying up literally all night long. I’m not sure what pulling an all-nighter in a library with a bunch of your peers is like, because I still haven’t done that, but staying up all night alone in your room while the whole world around you seems to be sleeping is very strange. Time seems to go very slowly and very quickly at the same time. Your mind both races and stagnates as you start to believe you’re the only living being awake in the entire universe. And, right after you get over that point where you feel like you can’t possibly go on, that you’re bound to collapse, you get this weird high of energy and start functioning on hyper-drive.

Well, at least that has been my all-nighter experience. And, like I said, I’m sure it’s different if you’re in a group. And I’m sure it’s also different for people who actually drink coffee (I’m one of those weird people who don’t like the taste…though I must admit it smells delicious) or energy drinks.

I’m lucky in that I get that last charge of hyperactive energy even when I lack sleep. When I get only a few hours, I tend to get that kick in the afternoon, soon after I feel that I won’t be able to resist an afternoon nap despite being in the middle of something important. I know that not everyone is like that. But I’m also not one of those so-called “sleepless elite” that actually wake up naturally after 4-6 hours of sleep. Apparently these people, called “short sleepers,” are super rare, and many people who think they are short sleepers actually aren’t (if you can function normally on 4 hours sleep but don’t wake up on your own without an alarm clock, or if you need to catch up on sleep on the weekends, you’re not really a short sleeper). I’m personally way jealous of these people.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. I love sleep. I find dreams super interesting (unless they’re comps. nightmares, that is. *shiver* ), and I like having a nice restful break between the days. But if only I needed less of it…I could get so much more done! And be happier doing it, since I wouldn’t be exhausted. A friend of mine here at Fordham is a short sleeper, and I bet you anything it is very helpful for his life as a PhD student.

Which gets me to the more grad.-school-related part of this post. Since reading that article above on short sleepers, I’ve been wondering: is how well you can deal with lack of sleep directly correlated to how well you do in grad. school? The multitasking abilities needed to be a successful grad. student (which probably carry over to being a successful academic) are incredible. You have to do well in your classes (which includes reading/writing for them and attending them), typically do a grad. assistantship/fellowship or some other kind of work to support yourself, and, on top of that, do your own research so you can try to present at conferences and publish work. Oh, right…and then there’s that personal life business (Psh! But who needs that, right?). And, unfortunately, you have only 24 hours in a day…just like a normal person!

So short sleepers obviously get an advantage. But does that always mean they do better than “normal” sleepers? And do people like me have an advantage over/do better than, say, people who absolutely need 7-8 hours to function properly? Can someone who needs that much sleep thrive just as much as a short sleeper in grad. school if they’re organized enough?

I guess what I’m asking is really this: should prospective graduate students make their personal sleeping habits a major consideration when deciding whether to go into academia?

Alex

Planning Ahead…And, Sometimes, Afar

Graduation is around the corner for many of us, including myself (that is, as long as I passed my comps.*fingers crossed*). That also means that job search time has arrived. And I’m sure many of you, both Master’s and Ph.D. students, are in the same boat. Or maybe some of you have already found jobs (in which case: Congratulations!). In any case, April seems to be the month to reflect on what life will be like next year, especially for those of us leaving Fordham.

Despite the continuing cold weather this year, that seems pretty appropriate, doesn’t it? April: The time to look forward to your new life as the spring season begins and new life begins to grow around us.

At least, it seems appropriate in New York, where the weather patterns match (or, at least, should match) my lovely hackneyed metaphor.

But some of us, including me, are not looking for jobs in New York. You may be looking to move somewhere relatively closeby, such as Philadelphia, or you may be interviewing for a job in Texas. Some of you probably already have jobs in places as far as California, or maybe even somewhere in Europe or Asia.

The thing is, next year a lot of us will have more than just a location change to adapt to. Besides having to deal with the moving vans and being away from a place we’ve grown comfortable in, any of us will have to deal with culture shock. Yes, even those of us relocating within the US. That’s one of the things that’s so interesting about the United States…we have so many different American identities within our one country.

Everyone who has grown up on the East Coast has heard, for example, “West Coast people are different.” Why? “They just smile ALL the time,” one friend who lived in California for 7 years explained to me recently (as opposed to people in England, who apparently never smile. If that's true, I’ll blame it on the weather). Even in a place as close as Boston I have been told I "dress very New York.” Honestly, I don’t even know what that means. I was wearing black jeans and a white t-shirt when I first got this comment. But, anyway, you know that this country is diverse (even beyond differences in race and culture) when you travel four hours on a bus and all of a sudden your clothes can define what city you’re from.

So how is this timely musing going to help you, dear readers? Well, for anyone considering a job somewhere they’ve never lived before, I suggest spending at least a weekend if not a week in the place before you decide. I know some of you may not have that option, either because you can’t take the time to do that or simply because, for any number of reasons, you have to take that job in Arizona. But what I learned from being a transfer student in undergrad. is that anywhere you live, learn, or work becomes a kind of home to you. I mean the place itself and the city or town around it. So you can’t just look at a place and think about all the practical pros and cons. You have to think of how you fit in with the culture and the people (and even the climate), and how you will feel defining yourself by it for at least a few years (e.g. If everyone smiling all the time is going to have some sort of reverse effect on you and make you want to punch people, maybe you shouldn’t move to California. Just sayin’).

So good luck to everyone reading this who’s on the job market, academic or otherwise. And remember to shop for a home, not just a school, job, or place to live.

Alex

“Today is Monday, Yesterday was Sunday, Tomorrow is Tuesday”

I’m sure most of you are sick of hearing about Rebecca Black and her new hit single (kind of) “Friday.”  But, since this is a blog about grad. school and graduate student experiences, maybe this will be a little different than the rest of what you’ve read. I don’t want to comment on how terrible the song or the singing is, how terribly exploitative the Ark Music Factory is for taking advantage of rich parents who don’t know how to stop spoiling their (somewhat delusional) children, or how this 13-year-old is apparently Kim Kardashian’s cousin. I don’t even want to talk about how she is planning on donating the proceeds from her songs to Japan. I want to talk about how this is going to affect Rebecca Black’s future not as a person, but as a student.

Because, for some reason, after the initial horror I felt watching the video wore off, and after getting all the information on how and why it was even produced in the first place, what I started thinking about was this: what is this girl going to do when she applies to college, if she applies to grad. school, when she applies for jobs?

I’ve mentioned before how important it is to Google yourself periodically to find out what’s out there, to put privacy settings on any public profiles you may have, etc. But what do you do if there’s already something out there and you can’t get rid of it? Or, in Rebecca Black’s case, what do you do if you’ve become so noted for something ridiculous that that’s probably all anyone will identify you with for years to come? Can you spin an application or a resume or an interview to make an old and embarrassing YouTube video an asset or a learning experience? What in the world is Rebecca Black going to do with herself if (or, in my opinion, when) this “I have to watch because it’s like watching a train wreck” kind of fame wears off?

At least when I was 13 all that was really around was AIM. The worst things I ever did online were make an AIM pen pal named Jessica who had the same birthday as I did and attempt to make a Hermione Granger fan site (meaning I didn’t really do anything bad or embarrassing…unless you think pen pals and/or Hermione are evil). The big player for posting embarrassing things in my day was DeadJournal/LiveJournal. And, let's be honest, everyone’s a little emo as a teenager. Right? The point is, once the much more public MySpace and YouTube became big I was old enough to be aware of what I was doing, and it wasn’t so commonplace that you didn’t think twice about posting things. But what are all these kids and teenagers going to do when they try to enter college or the professional world and all anyone can think when they see their name is “Aren’t you that guy/girl from that YouTube video?”

Am I crazy to think about this when I listen to “Friday”? I mean, Rebecca Black’s parents certainly didn’t think about it. Do you think this kind of fame is ephemeral enough that I shouldn’t be concerned? But, then again, isn’t the internet basically eternal?

Alex

Losing it (Work, that is)

Most people who know me even remotely well will tell you I am a bit of a worrywart. Some people may even call it paranoid. Of course, I just call it “practical” or “safe.” For example, I am overly cautious about things like leaving my suitcase with someone else at an airport. I like people who leave my house late at night to text me when they get home. And every time I am writing a paper that is more than a few pages long, I not only click the little save icon several times an hour, but I periodically email the paper to myself.

Most of the time I know I’m a little bit crazy. But a couple of weekends ago, on my way to the PAXEast Videgogame convention, I witnessed one of my worst fears: some girl had just missed her train. And, somehow, all of her stuff was already on it when it left without her.

And of course, finding articles like this one in The Chronicle just make me feel even more validated in what is probably just another element of my personal insanity. The article talks specifically about the terror of losing academic work. Of course, when it’s something like a dissertation or a huge research project with one-of-a-kind data, the terror of loss is probably at its peak. As the article explains, losing that is essentially like losing a child. You’ve invested years of time and energy into this thing, this being that has essentially taken on a life of its own, and then, all of a sudden, it’s taken from you. Either by a cruel human or a machine malfunction. And, usually, there is no hope of recovering it. It’s probably an academic’s (student or otherwise) worst nightmare.

And, of course, as usual, there are pros and cons to having newer technologies when writing things like our theses or dissertations or research projects. For example, I can’t imagine writing a whole paper (even if it’s only 10 or so pages) on a typewriter where you can’t hit “backspace” when you make a typo. Or only having one copy of your paper unless you go to a Xerox machine. Or being unable to just email in a paper to your professor if you’re sick at home and can’t come to campus. Then again, typewriters don’t usually “crash” and leave you without a bunch of work you thought you had done, and not being able to email in a paper or post it on Blackboard would also mean things like having response papers due in class and not up to three days before.

With a computer, unlike with a typewriter, you don’t just have one copy of your paper. You can print as many copies as you need, and you can back-up on external hard drives, USB drives/thumb drives, or even by emailing things to yourself. But, besides email, all of those technological items are prime targets for thieves. And while a robber would probably be completely uninterested in taking that one copy of your dissertation sitting next to a typewriter, they may inadvertently take that prized possession if it’s on that MacBook Pro, thumb drive, and/or external hard drive.

So, as the spring semester slowly creeps to a close, let us all remember this entry. The moral of the story is: back it up in as many ways as possible, guys. Physically and in “the cloud.” For once, follow this insane girl’s lead. Be a little paranoid, and avoid the trauma that the people in that Chronicle article suffered.

Alex

Life Beyond Academia

It's a scary world out there for a lifetime student

My comps. are over and I can barely believe it. Now all I have to do is cross my fingers and hope for a pass, and grad. school will almost be over. Of course, this means that my job search must now begin.

From the emails you all have been getting from the GSA, I’m guessing many of you are currently in the same boat as I am: seeking a non-academic job after 20+ years of life as a student. The GSA, Student Development, and Career Development at Fordham are currently trying to fill some gaps to help people like us, starting out with humanities students and probably moving their way on to the sciences. As they said in a recent email, they have recognized a need for workshops and other professional development programs that would help us navigate careers outside the strictly academic job market. And GSA is spearheading a project that intends to fill that gap.

What’s strange is that everyone seems to be realizing that this is an issue not just at Fordham, but in academia in general…and they’re all realizing it at the same time. When I went to the Chronicle (my go-to resource on all things academia, as you can tell) to look for information on this trend, I found at least 10 articles written on this or related topics in the last year.

One of the most recent ones, and one of the most helpful in my opinion, talks about the importance of “remov[ing] the stigma of a nonacademic career for the many students who are either struggling on the tenure-track market or don't want a teaching job.” Masters and even Ph.D.s shouldn’t be seen as useless or as a waste of time outside of academia. A lot of the skills we learn in an academic setting, especially teaching and research, are transferable to other jobs. And the experience of graduate school, in my opinion at least, is an opportunity for personal growth as well, which is never time wasted.

The authors of this Chronicle article make a good point though: we have to learn how to sell them to people in other sectors properly. According to these authors, many people outside of academia think of Ph.D.s especially as “overeducated and underexperienced.” I would argue that, on the other side of the coin, many graduate students think that doing anything outside of academia would be unmotivating and understimulating. I think we need to find a way to make academia less insular and isolating, because, as anyone in graduate school should know, discussion and conversation is the best way to learn and to find solutions. The new initiative by the GSA is the first step in this direction, and I’m personally very excited about it.

In case anyone else out there is interested in reading more about these kind of things, I recommend looking at that Chronicle article, especially since it links to several other good ones including one by Fordham’s very own Leonard Cassuto. There are also a lot of helpful websites out there for people who are in this boat (like me). The one I’ve heard about the most (including through a few friends’ recent witty Facebook statuses) is VersatilePhD.com, a site you can subscribe to to get lots of inside info. on/support about different career tracks. From what I can tell, it’s definitely worth a look. And I’m sure the GSA will be sending out a whole lot more of these kinds of resources out in the near future for all of us leaving the academic world.

Happy Spring Break everyone! Hope you’re all getting some much-deserved rest and having fun!

Alex