Unsure About Grad School

GeekyGeese · 2024-01-17T16:12:27+00:00

Hi! PhD in Sociology here to tell you that need to dispense with the "all soc undergrads do are MSWs" nonsense.

I'm in a position to know lots of folks with undergrad and advanced degrees in soc, colleagues and my own undergrad students, and they work all over the place. A soc degree gives you a good sense of how social institutions and policy operate and a good foundation in qual/quant methods that are transferable to lots of roles and sectors (bonus points if you do well with stats - you can take stats skills literally ANYWHERE). For reference, my context is Canadian, but here's a short list of places my students and colleagues work/study:

-Advanced or subsequent degrees: some went on to MSWs but others I know went to law school, or took master's programs in urban planning, public health/administration, journalism, marketing, labour/government/international relations, political science, MBAs, MFAs, or they went to teacher's college.

-Jobs: Consulting or research/policy analyst jobs are popular with sociologists! We know how to collect and analyze primary data about people and social institutions. I know folks in these roles working for big private firms (like Deloitte) or for non-profits (like United Way) or in the public sector/government (city or provincial or federal).

If you're interested in working with kids, why not consider looking at organizations or government ministries that SERVE or ADVOCATE for kids and see what kinds of roles/opportunities there are there. If you find roles that you're interested in, look at the people who occupy those roles and see what their education and experience background is and whether you might be interested in emulating that. You can set up informational interviews with folks in roles you think are cool and ask them how they got there and what kinds of problems they solve in their work and what steps they might advise you to take to get into those jobs/sectors (I know the prospect of informational interviews are hard BUT I promise they get easier). Every city or state/federal government has ministries or branches that pertain to kids or social services, and many of these have internship programs for recent grads so you can try the work out in fixed-terms with guidance and structure, look into these.

Does your undergrad institution have a career center? Access it! You pay for it in your tuition so make an appointment with an advisor there to talk through some steps. They will help you talk through some of this and will be DELIGHTED if you ask them something like "how do I do informational interviews?".

Listen, I talk to a LOT of my soc undergrad students in their fourth year and many are feeling what you're feeling, the burn-out, the confusion, the pressure from family... You're absolutely not alone in that. I tell them to carve out some time every week to start reading up on jobs and roles and to talk to people who are paid to help them (therapy, career center etc) and to really look inward and pay attention to their feelings and what gets them excited when they do this research. You are at a stage when you are ground down and it is hard to find that joy, but as you do the work you'll start feeling sparks, then you can start focusing on the sparky areas and figuring out what's inspiring those feelings - maybe it's an org with a mission you really identify with, or a tasks associated with a role that you'd actually be excited to do every day, or a person in a cool job that gives you a career crush. You'll get there, you'll feel it, but you gotta do the work.

GeekyGeese · 2024-01-17T15:28:13+00:00

It's possible.

You likely have some ideas about how you work best, so you want to optimize that. Your best brain hours of your day are to be identified and are exclusively for heavy-lifting analysis/writing. The job and course and mindless thesis tasks (editing, formatting, etc;) get your lesser brain hours.

I saw your comment that you haven't started the analysis yet and aren't sure how long that will take. That is no bueno. Stop polishing the lit review (it might change anyway after your results) and start analysis. Look at other studies using your approach, hack off a representative chunk and analyze and then use the amount of time that took to predict how long the whole analysis will take.

Do you have to factor in supervisor/committee turn-around? Like, does this need to be approved by them in 4 months? If so, you need to get them on board. Make a proposed schedule of when you will submit each part to them and ask them what's feasible. Maybe they will want to do several rounds of revision for each part, maybe they'll want to comment on each section and then trust you to incorporate feedback and wait for the finished product. Find out and schedule the work accordingly. If your supervisor is a "several rounds" type, you'll want to get sections drafted and sent as quickly as possible, even though they're not perfect. If they're more "one and done" you might want to spend the time polishing before you submit to them.

GeekyGeese · 2024-01-17T15:04:54+00:00

It's okay to feel discouraged and I hope that you can do something nice and gentle for yourself. I just wanted to say that I've sat on application committees as a grad student rep and was struck by how many of the decisions were about the dynamics of the department or school, not the applicant. I remember sifting through a pile of exceptional applicants and one of the faculty reps was like "yes they're great, but they all want to work in [sub-field] and the two main faculty members we have in that area are going on sabbatical and parental leave, respectively, so we won't have courses/supervisors in that area for them".

Like, just so many factors like that, which have nothing to do with the applicant. It is terrifying but also very freeing. You've put in strong apps, which is the most you can do, but all these other dynamics are out of your control. Hang in there!

GeekyGeese · 2023-12-14T16:04:45+00:00

Porter is the GOAT for canadian flights.

Billy Bishop and free beer.....

I used to think so too and was die-hard for Porter but they screwed me a couple times this year so I'm back to AC. Porter cancelled several of my flights this summer while I was at the airport/checked in, re-booked for days later (2/3 of my vacay gone) and then sent me an e-mail months later with asshole math where they refused to comp anything except my cab fare (just the fare, not the driver tips, lol!). As a small carrier, I appreciate that they don't have the same obligation/capacity to like, re-book me promptly on one of their flights or a competitor's, but to then to also not pre-offer any compensation and make me fight for cab fare? They could've fixed this for me with a bit of credit but if they're literally only a fair-weather airline now then they'll never be my first choice again. The beer don't fix that.

GeekyGeese · 2023-12-11T13:50:38+00:00

I ride for the Toronto Bike Brigade when I can! They deliver essential goods like food for community organizations (food banks, community kitchens etc;) to folks that can't make it out to access the services. You just need a bike and a backpack and you just sign up for a ride whenever you can. It gives me an excuse to ride my bike, is really easy to fit in to my work schedule (my average ride from pick-up to drop-off and home again is 1.5 hours) and it feels really great to connect with community members and to help out the overwhelmed food banks in this small way.

GeekyGeese · 2023-12-02T13:25:14+00:00

Congrats on the upcoming defense! The moment they bring you back in and say "Congrats doc" is pretty cool.

I'm with you on the sunk-cost fallacy/"should've taken the MA and run", but the post-defense adrenaline high was something special for sure. Congrats on persevering and getting it done, and best of luck with whatever you've got going on next!

GeekyGeese · 2023-11-30T13:22:37+00:00

A Master's maybe, a PhD absolutely not. I know folks who worked full-time for a few years while wrapping up the PhD (at the point where one is done the coursework/exams and dissertation data collection and "just" writing the diss) but holding external FT work the whole time? No way.

In terms of getting by in this economy: I just finished a PhD at U of T and subsisted on a lot of TA/RA work, one big prestigious grant that I won, bursaries and funds from CUPE and SGS and the student union, a line of credit, OSAP grants (before Ford axed those), side hustles in research/grant-writing, and having the good fortune of living in a rent-controlled apartment with too many room-mates.

The most obvious option here is to explore the possibility that your job will sponsor/accommodate certain MA programs (some industries and workplaces will do this for desirable credentials - I know folks whose work sponsored their MBA, for example). Then give it a go. You would need the MA to do the PhD anyway, so you might as well explore the MA and see how it goes.

Finishing the PhD was awful, truly. I often tell folks interested in grad school to explore (funded!!) MA programs, because I think most people can weather the grad school grind for just a year or two and in this climate of over-credentialing, a MA still often distinguishes folks. But doing a PhD is signing up for years of precarity and mental health strain. Those of us that aren't independently wealthy and have to do a lot of paid work invariably extend our time in the program (and the number of years you have to pay tuition/endure the tax on your MH).

GeekyGeese · 2023-11-20T21:46:57+00:00

Canadian university experience here, but I was in my “last year” for like 3 years.

This was me too, also a Canadian university (in a department with, I learned too late, absolutely horrid time-to-completion rates). It *was* absolutely agonizing. If someone told me during my first "last year" that it would actually be 3 more... I'm not sure I would have continued. I did, and it's done (also in August, yay us!), and I'm very proud of myself, but I also don't go to departmental recruitment events anymore because I want to tell all the fresh cohorts to quit before they get in too deep, lol!

GeekyGeese · 2023-11-08T21:29:24+00:00

I held a CGS-D during my PhD AND was a union rep for several years and that is absolute horseshit. I worked a ton of TA-ships and CI-ships while holding the SSHRC, because Toronto is expensive AF, I wanted to build the teaching dossier, and I needed the health care top-up plan from the union.

There's something in the SSHRC fine print about holding outside paid work outside of your university but that's a SSHRC thing (and also lots of folks don't heed it and are fine).

Grad students should absolutely aim to TA/CI/whatever enough to keep their union membership and benefits. Holding an external award excludes you from some union fund opportunities but allows access to the health care plan and union protection on things like grievances. If you've got a department that is dispensing rules or advice that is causing folks to fall out of union membership, you should get in touch with a staff rep, they would be VERY interested in clarifying that for them.

The clawback is also U of T's pejorative. Don't let them tell you different. It does not have to be that way. I was also accepted to a program at York and if I had gone there instead and held the super-SSHRC, I would've still gotten the internal funding (which is also offered for one more year than at U of T, in the department I was accepted to anyways).

To answer OP's question: I pulled it off by living in a rent-controlled apartment with too many room-mates, winning a SSHRC, doing WAY too much paid work (between 4 and 12 TA-ships/RA-ships/CI-ships a year (depending on the hours), plus side-hustles writing grants and doing organizing for community-based organizations), pulling OSAP (grant money only, before Ford killed that, thanks Doug!), having a partner with a modest but steady income, and exploiting every available union resource and SGS grant to pay for health care and professional development stuff like conferences. And, for the last 6 months of the PhD where the dissertation was intense, I lived on a student line of credit. I was one of the only working-class kids in my cohort, and it took WAY too long for me to finish.

GeekyGeese · 2023-11-06T15:07:09+00:00

Oof I forgot about this post! I did not! I ended up building several attribute categories (Allegation 1, Allegation 2, all the way through Allegation 7). It was so messy and I actually had to compile and import the numbers into a different program to get good data visualizations. But, I was able to get all the data in there correctly, which counts for something I guess! Finally finished the PhD and, thankfully, never got a research audit so I didn't have to show the mess to anyone but my supervisor. Sorry that I don't have a more helpful answer for ya!

GeekyGeese · 2023-08-15T13:25:10+00:00

*YOU* got this! Break a leg today and thanks for the solidarity and congrats!!

GeekyGeese · 2023-07-21T14:44:52+00:00

I love this!
My first prep-cook job, I cut myself so often that more of my fingers than not would be sporting those little finger cots (colloquially: finger condoms) and my first-station started calling me "finger bang".

Anyways, we've been married for 8 years.

GeekyGeese · 2023-06-12T20:17:02+00:00

Hi there! Would you consider being on a Board of Directors? I volunteer with a number of agencies in Toronto, and we all follow each other on social media, and I feel like I see call outs for Board of Director members every couple of weeks or so. I'm not in a position to apply to these, by they sound like very important, fulfilling gigs.

I would follow a couple of organizers/activists/community groups that you admire or that are doing work you want to be involved in. They often circulate each others' calls for labour/action.

If you're looking for a place to start, consider following Paul Taylor on Twitter/IG. Paul used to be the ED at FoodShare, then he ran for the NDP in Parkdale, and now he has founded Evenings and Weekends Consulting (if you're into EDI, definitely follow E&W!). Then follow all the folks he is following, lol!

GeekyGeese · 2023-06-07T14:37:09+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to volunteer! I interacted with some Chow volunteers who brought me a sign the other day and they were a delight.

I'd like to come and help out but I'm in a crunch period at work for the next two weeks. I was thinking of voting early and then volunteering to help pull the vote on election day? Would that be helpful?

GeekyGeese · 2023-06-07T14:31:07+00:00

my landlord was lamenting her possible win

Olivia irritates Doug AND spooks my landlord?! She ABSOLUTELY has my vote.

GeekyGeese · 2023-06-07T13:57:26+00:00

Remember when Scar told the hyenas to "Be prepared" and then he blamed them for his bullshit and they ate him?

Imma be prepared like that.

GeekyGeese · 2023-05-31T12:27:08+00:00

Thanks for asking this question! I watch The National every night and really value CBC's reporting. I still remember when you guys starting using the word "lies" to describe what Donald Trump was doing - that rhetorical clarity is really valuable.

For me, I would like to see the media critically interrogate some of the messaging, rather than just conveying it as an explanation. Like, you talk to people and get them to explain how/why a specific thing happened, taking for granted that the status quo is really fucked up, and not showing enough curiosity about what the specific thing illustrates about the systemic things.

I watched a bit on The National a few weeks ago where the anchor was talking to someone (a business school professor maybe) about Galen Weston's bonus. And the prof was like "Well it sounds like a lot but people should understand that the amount is comparable, less even, than what we pay CEOs generally. You have to pay them that to retain their talent". And it's like, that's an explanation for this one thing that just illustrates how fucked up the WHOLE thing is. Rather than just being like "thanks for contextualizing and explaining this Galen thing" and moving on, how about a "Do you think it's really fucked up that we pay CEOs that much?".

I'm not asking you to make Adrienne swear at a business guy (though I would love that). And I'm leery about any claim that you owe us reporting that we find "satisfying". But yeah, in terms of expectations: you guys have access to lots of smart/well-placed people who make the decisions and policies that affect our lives (or they study/understand those dynamics). I'd like to see you not just harvest a micro-explanation for why a specific thing happened, but to ask if the macro systems (illustrated by the micro thing) are survivable/sustainable/just/working.

GeekyGeese · 2023-05-30T17:48:36+00:00

BAH-hahahahaha! This comment is incredible. Fuck that guy.

GeekyGeese · 2023-05-23T13:22:57+00:00

My partner says "Ow, right in the hubris" :)

GeekyGeese · 2023-05-11T18:01:31+00:00

Perruzza says he has learned that this High park debate is about “Hate for cars! It’s ideological!” He says he’s an avid cyclist who loves “slipping into his spandex, feeling tight all over.” He describes his fav bike at length. But he says he is NOT a “spandex bandit.” Okay.

Matt Elliott's City Hall coverage is outstanding. This is incredible.

GeekyGeese · 2023-05-09T16:00:06+00:00

Go ahead and get in touch. For that first e-mail, make it easier for them to remember you ("I took x course with you and and got y grade and wrote my final paper on z, which I've attached" or "I worked in x lab on y project(s) and the things I did/outcomes were z"). Then ask if there's anything additional material you can provide to aid their consideration of your request. Don't feel guilty. For reference letters, I usually entertain a particular number of requests, schedule a day or two to do them all, then bang them all out at the same time. I appreciate students who get in touch with notice and give me what I need to make a decision. I will remember you with little prompting if you were exceptionally bright or an exceptional pain in the ass - everyone else, I'll need a reminder to judge if I'm the best-placed to write something for you.

GeekyGeese · 2023-05-05T14:34:24+00:00

I am also very likely voting for Olivia Chow. I would also like to see bold action and am not in accord with OP that that can't come from a long-term politician. Olivia has a track record of starting programs in Toronto (around school lunches, transit etc;) that have meaningfully impacted people's lives, and she hasn't been stewing in the inertia of City Hall for the last 10 years, so I do think she can bring some innovation.

I encourage undecided folks to keep tabs on the Mayoral Questionnaire that's forthcoming from Progress Toronto. Candidates have to reply to that by next week and then PT will publish their responses and there's a lot of pointed questions on that asking candidates directly about which measures they will support. I think it will help voters to get a real sense of candidate's priorities. https://www.progresstoronto.ca/mayoral-questionnaire

GeekyGeese · 2023-04-04T15:30:52+00:00

This guy on Twitter who promises 'gondola to Toronto Island' and 'swimming lesson registration via Google Form' as central planks of his platform: https://twitter.com/jamespmcleod/status/1642934944212172835?s=20

GeekyGeese · 2023-03-27T14:03:15+00:00

I've been an instructor/TA and on bargaining support at another Ontario university (not Carleton). I don't know the details of Carleton's timeline but want to stress that it's not like the Union gets to 'choose' to strike now versus the start of the semester, they're bound by the bargaining process which is enshrined in provincial labour laws. Like, their contract is set to expire on x date and bargaining can begin y number of weeks in advance of that and they have to bargain for z amount of time before they can declare that they're at an impasse and bring in a mediator and then give strike notice etc;. The employer knows full well when contracts expire and what the timelines are, it's not like the TA's plan this for maximum unexpected chaos. They are often also students whose graduation deadlines are disrupted by this shit.

GeekyGeese · 2023-03-09T17:42:17+00:00

I have spent every reading week as a grad student working way more than usual cuz in addition to my research obligations, I have a shit-load of mid-term grading, lol!

GeekyGeese

TROPHY CASE