PhD School in English

[yellehs]

For some reason I signed up as a member. I suspect that I am among the Members Emerita as my student days are long, long gone. I'm going for the Grandma Moses Award for latter life aspiring authors. You see, I think an English Major is a personality type, perhaps even a pathological trait of relatively normal human beings. Anyway, I have created www.thetortoisefactor.com which is subtitled "On Perseverance in Life and Work." It is dedicated to late-bloomers. On that site is a blog on my encounter with the PhD Octopus, the condition of being a 20 something then and now and other topics on "career" or in old-fashioned parlance, the conduct of life. I would really like some comments on that site --- if you can spare a few minutes.
I'd like to know how that BA, MA, MFA, DA or PhD has worked out
for you. Thanks for your time.

[onlyaworkingtitle]

Hassler’s 20 somethings, whether they are passionate about good grades or not, know they should be. I was Beta Club in high school and placed in the Ohio physics test. No one fussed much. Dad probably figured it was an aberration. My physics teacher, passionate about mentoring his kids and pets, told me to look into engineering. I blew him off. I thought I liked English more — nothing more than that. For the most part high school bored me and I passed hours in revery walking the hillsides and riding my bike worrying about being bored and why I couldn’t fit in like the other kids. Today’s parents would knock such dreaminess out of their kids.

This paragraph sounds like my life, only with books instead of bikes.

Anywho, I got my BA a couple weeks ago and so far most of my thoughts on it are that I want to go back to school. I didn't think I would, but in this job market, where all human resource offices are well-saturated with applicants, that MFA looks extra-shiny, especially through one of those low-residency programs that would let me stay home and have a job here while commuting to whatever university is offering it for ten days out of the semester.

I'm also beginning to come to terms with the fact that, while my degree is in English and Creative Writing, my "profession" might have nothing to do with that. My best friend and I are starting a catering company, which is exciting and definitely something I'm passionate about, but not really something my on-paper education has prepared me for. Though I'll be writing during non-baking non-sleeping hours, and frequenting this forum to keep the literary corner of my mind active, it's not exactly the same as the bright career in the editorial department of a publishing house (which is where I thought I'd now be, four years ago when I decided what to study).

On the other hand, my alma mater in particular prides itself on preparing students not just in fields related to their major, but in any lifelong career -- interpersonal skills and creative problem solving are stressed regardless of which courses the students take -- so I still feel decently prepared for any job I might end up with down the line.

So it's a mixed bag. Thoughts and advice from an older and (assumably) wiser Armadillo?

[yellehs]

Thank you, Onlywithaworkingtitle, I appreciate your time and interest in thetortoisefactor.com. On the far end of my career trajectory, I applaud your realism and enterprise. I passed far too much time looking for the perfect slot in someone else's game. I might better have spent more time writing as you plan to do and being realistic about livelihood. I have sworn off offering unsolicited wisdom. You are well on the way to your own wisdom. Eventually I wound up parlaying my language skills into PR journalism and while all my English literature credits did not apply to PR, I don't regret for a minute all the hours and research that went for professional, academic naught. My life is much the richer for it --- if not in bucks and/or so-called tenure. I came to enjoy PR and the creative opportunities it brought me. I wish you fair winds and following seas in your career. Actually, I wish it to all 20 somethings and even some 30 somethings.