Advice for a Young Grad School Applicant?

CanisNebula
Sun, 15 Sep 2013 11:19:25 +0000

Any PhD program worth going to will offer you full funding, even in the humanities. Seriously. If they’re not offering you full funding (through fellowships, teaching, and/or research), the program really isn’t up to snuff.

As someone just finishing a PhD right now, I will say that you need to be absolutely sure that it’s what you want to do and that it will get you where you want to go. Otherwise, it is such a tough process (rewarding as well, certainly, but tough), that you’ll be miserable or drop out. You need to not doubt the path to stay on it. Taking a year or two sounds like a great way to make sure of that, and it’s something I wish I had done.