A few days ago, I posted an email from a former student who has been debating whether or not to apply to graduate school. Readers were invited to offer their advice, and many kindly obliged (see comments). Having digested those comments and solicited additional advice elsewhere, she has decided to go ahead and apply to graduate programs in English. She has generously agreed to share her thoughts on the subject with Critical Mass readers. Below is her note to me:

Thank you for posting my email on your blog. I've spent a lot of time mulling over all this information -- other people's experiences, and other people's opinions. I've asked close friends who are currently in graduate school, or will be starting next fall, on their attitude towards all this. Of course, being in the midst or soon-to-be midst of it all makes them quite defensive of their position. I've read a lot that one should only go to graduate school if it is the ONLY thing that they want, and if their passion and dedication for their particular(ly) (narrow) field of interest and the pursuit of that is the only thing they can imagine doing.

I went into Penn as an undergraduate naÔve about the implications of higher education. I spent a lot of time there agonizing about the money that went into it, the type of people I had surrounded myself with, and the attitudes that formed around such status and prestige based values. (I attribute this in part to the mentality that Wharton brings to Penn, and that perhaps not all higher education is so similar). I was constantly frustrated with the feeling that students had come to Penn for a certain type of breeding, and not an education, and that Penn tried to hide this notion under the guise of conducting classes and holding general requirements. And occasionally, I thought the classes I was attending were pointless (because they were poorly chosen or had to fulfill an extraneous requirement), or the papers I was writing produced no real quantifiable value. But in those classes that were well-chosen, never did I not learn, never was my mind not engaged, and never was my writing not challenged. In the end, I resisted what I perceived to be the negative aspects of the institution. I decided not to pursue anything with my Psychology degree (which I discovered I had no passion for), and I decided that I didn't need to be anxious about starting a profession with a regular salary. Instead, in the past few years, I have done the things I wanted -- I lived in California again, took on a job with minimal responsibility, spent time with friends and family, pursued my ceramics hobby, moved to a foreign country, and traveled a lot in the meantime. I did this exactly because much of my time at Penn made me aware that I didn't want to be encumbered by misguided notions of ambition and success.

The latest post on your blog from Ms. Scheherezade was encouraging. I could identify with a lot of the things she wrote. Going back to graduate school was something I was highly skeptical of when I graduated from Penn. But despite the freedom and opportunity I have been granted in the past few years, I, like her, want to be engaged with ideas on a daily basis. And I find it much more difficult to be satisfied when I'm not being faced with this task. I've tried really hard to discern whether this nagging desire arises from residual notions of ambition that are always hard to get away from, or from a more experienced evaluation of what I want to do with my life. I've come to think that my inability to make this desire go away, in spite of having pursued many other things that make me happy, indicates that graduate school is really something I want for myself.

I've made this decision without the conviction that the advice I've read thinks I should have. But I'd like to take your and other's advice that knowing exactly what you want is not really knowing what you want at all.

All that being said, I'd like to ask if you are still willing to advise me through the application process. Completely understandable if the answer if no, of course. But thank you for all the guidance so far, and providing invaluable resources for me to refer to.

Thanks to everyone who offered their thoughts on this always knotty question. They were much appreciated, and they have been put to good use.

She'll make it, and gives every sign of being capable of excelling.

I read an article linked over at Marginal Revolution which makes a good supporting point: work is for poor, stupid people. It's much better to find yourself than to worry about some dreary job.

I'm afraid she's going to discover that plenty of her fellow graduate students are there only for "a certain type of breeding" and that many of them will be "encumbered by misguided notions of ambition and success." I wish her the best, but I hope she's ready to meet a high concentration of mean and grasping people who become less interested in "ideas" as time passes.

Ive been really enjoying these posts and comments on going to grad school, as Im contimplating this move myself.

I graduated with a music degree a few years ago. I always told myself that I was going to college for an education, not job training. I did in fact recieve the education and I learned quite a lot, but making a decent living in music has proven extraordinarily difficult. Now that I'm a little older and tired of still working the blue colloar job I had in college, on top of teaching, gigging, etc., I want some job training.

About 2 years ago, I discovered a field where I get just as much creative satisfaction and fulfillment as I do with music. This field is digital 3D animation. Ive been pursuing it in my free time and I've gotten some fairly decent freelance work that has resulted in several published and selling video games. While this is all well and good, I really want to do this full-time.

Now, a lot of companies in this field dont require a degree, but it is a plus. Their main concern is how the portfolio looks. While mine is decent, it could use a lot of work, which leads me to the crux of my situation.

I met with some professors at a university that offers a Master's degree in this field and showed them my work. They said that based on what they saw, I would almost definitely recieve a GTA (all well and good so far). The thing is, Im not sure that I could LEARN a whole lot that is new that I couldnt learn on my own, and more effectively. Technology programs at most universities are generally behind the times, and based on what I saw when I toured the facilities, the students there were working below the standards I've come to expect from teaching myself through online tutorials and such (this is probably why they told me I'd get a GTA so early). So, what I intend to use this for is to refine my skills, perhaps enter various competitions and shows and generally netwrok with people who are 'in'. That and the Master's degree probably would hurt on my resume.

I'd like to ask for some opinions on whether this would be a worthwhile pusuit.

If you are serious about going back and want to learn something find out who has the best program (this was unclear about your post). However, if job considerations and the desire to make a decent living, two perfectly legitimate goals, outweigh your desire to learn something, suck it up and get the degree. Ideally, of course, it would be nice if they both went together but there is nothing wrong with getting a piece of paper that you know maybe meaningless but perspective employers respect/value/ require/ reward financially. But, for example, if you ever get hired by government agencies you will in many cases make more money because of your degree.

Dave,

Thanks for the reply. I doubt that I will learn absolutely NOTHING from the program, so it wouldnt be a total waste in that regard. As far as finding the best program out there, I believe this is in the top 10 or 15 in the nation (keeping in mind this is still a relatively new field and university programs in it are still scarce). There are other factors involved such as location, cost of living etc, so this school remains my ideal choice.

Anyway, most people I ask are telling me pretty much what you just did, so Im leaning heavily on going.

No problem Mick. My mother constantly hammers on the importance of credentialing. There's a long story she tells about a neighborhood widow, her long disused MA, and a job as a translator at the UN that fed her family in dark times but I think you get the point.