It is quite common for students to be out of university for more than a year and then go back to graduate school. When I was in graduate school most of the students in the same program had some work experience after getting their bachelor’s before applying to graduate programs – in some cases several years of work experience.
If you take time off and then apply to graduate programs, what you do during that time off does matter.
For the people who I know who went on to get a PhD, some first got a master’s degree, and some did not. It seems this can go either way. However, for the small number of students that I have known who went straight from a bachelor’s degree to a doctorate (whether PhD or other doctorate) one way or another they had very good experience which made the point that they were very sure that they were ready to start working towards their doctorate and that this was indeed the right graduate program for them.
No, there isn’t. Academic culture is not different in California, because academics come from all over no matter where they end up working. Individual schools might have distinctive academic cultures among faculty, but not entire regions. Not sure how California came into this discussion, anyway?
Please listen to the people who are telling you that if you’re finishing your Ph.D. in your late 40s or close to 50 (which appears likely, if you get admitted to a program), you’ve very unlikely to find a tenure-track job in a four-year college or university. It’s not fair, but it is fact.
To be honest the political stuff is distracting. NC State government has been cracking down on university propagandas. NC programs are very prestigious where usually the hardest working students are at.
Wow, you’re really misconstruing academic culture across the board. A lot of very hard-working students can be found in NC – and everywhere else. A lot of campus politics can be found in NC – and everywhere else. If you want to be protected from controversial political discourse, why not Florida or Texas? But honestly, I’m not sure how political math departments are, anyway.
I asked yes. One told me what I would need to apply.
What I am looking to do in grad school
Connect. Make major professional academia connections
Assistant Teach
Understand anything I am weak in more clearly
I have strength in linear algebra, ordinary calc, math modeling, and the calculuses.
I also have some proof abilities
Where my weakness is is in real analysis and some vector graphing. I got the biggest grade by far on my exit which got me an A in Capstone. I got a max grade on my capstone project.
Master the mathematics
Research
Btw I am about to work for five weeks as a summer instructor at a smaller university teaching high school students. So I’m getting this experience out of the way.
If I am going into a program that does not continue beyond a Masters, then I should be able to go to a phD elsewhere. That was even brought up on here earlier.
OK, sure, there’s a lot of ageism in corporate America (which, to my knowledge, is not known by an acronym). The ageism in academia manifests differently, but it is no less real.
I am hearing what they are saying but my heart belongs in academia. I have seen people become adjuncts after a Masters before working on their phD. Now they initiated a phD but dropped after a Masters. This is definitely at small schools. Yes I am aware of ageism, but I will figure it out. There are the two year colleges and Division IIs.
You might get a job as an adjunct or at a two-year college. Div II doesn’t make a difference – this isn’t sports. Those jobs are as competitive as any others. Please listen to what people are telling you – you don’t really understand what an academic career entails, from the graduate program on. Your posts here make that abundantly clear. Please make an appointment to talk to one of your professors and ask them to walk you through a typical career trajectory.
A PhD is going to take a minimum of 5 years to complete and that’s after the 2 years you’re spending to complete a master’s (which I can’t figure the reason for you doing). Subsequent to that to be competitive for most academic roles you’re probably going to have to complete at least one post-doc which could take a further 3 years. If after all that you’re fortunate to get hired you’ll be 50. Not only will you have missed out on your prime earning years, you will also have no retirement savings and will have student loans to repay. Overall it’s a very poor economic proposition especially given the harsh realities of the employment landscape for a career in academia. Your chances of getting hired in an academic role are very slim. Not only will your age be a detriment (those 70 year old professors you mention have been faculty for 40 years), but academic roles, even teaching only ones, are highly competitive to secure and in short supply as there are far more PhD graduates than open positions. Math is also a highly prestige driven field. The vast majority of positions will go to students graduating from top math programs (and hint they aren’t at schools in North Carolina). It’s much more likely that the only position you would be able to secure should you be fortunate to do so would be as a contract sessional instructor which is both very precarious lowly paid.
Beyond that you’ve demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of what graduate studies entail, what’s required to get admitted, or even how to go about selecting which programs to apply to. You’ve completely dismissed what posters on this thread have been telling you and you’ve given no indication that you’ve made any effort to better inform yourself. As a result I’m less than confident of your ability to even get admitted to a graduate program, be it master’s or PhD.
“Btw I am about to work for five weeks as a summer instructor at a smaller university teaching high school students. So I’m getting this experience out of the way.”
OP …read gwnorths exceptional post. It summarizes virtually all of your issues.
I will add one more from your post which I am quoting here. Teaching high school kids for five weeks at a summer program is noble and important work. But no graduate program will consider this comparable to teaching undergrads just because the program is housed on a college campus. I am not diminishing the importance of teaching high school. But it will not enhance an application for a doctoral program in any way, shape or form.
If you decide you love teaching HS kids… fantastic. A great plan for your next career step. You will not need teaching certification to teach in a private school. And many public school districts have easy ways to get a master’s in education which you’ll need for certification…so you’d teach (earning a full-time salary, health care, retirement benefits) and do your course work at night and in the summer. Great plan.
I do not want to be a HS teacher because I am too good at math for that.
I have to go to grad school. I have worked too hard not to. I sacrificed time, money, and even my own car to not stop now. I put my heart and soul into Math. If I didn’t want to work in higher academia I would not have switched two majors.
I do have regrets with leaving Mass Com sports communication major given the YouTube movement right now, but I made my choices and there is not enough undergraduate aid left to change that.
Also, I am looking into this ageism thing. Today, the people that see your age are HR. I don’t think they disclose that anywhere else. It is even illegal to ask someone’s age in a job interview.
But as someone said I can get an adjunct or two year chance. And if I prove to be really good at my work I believe that can change minds.
That’s a bit insulting to the many very excellent at math high school teachers who have chosen to educate the next generation(s). Thank goodness.
This is true. But if your resume is a complete one (and it will need to be), it won’t be hard to figure out about how old you are.
One of my kids is an adjunct with an advanced degree…and has been for about 6 years. The path to a tenure track position is…just about zero. @Shelby_Balik can explain this…again. And my kid knows adjuncts with PhD degrees who can’t even find a full time job at a community college.
Oh, gosh, I missed this comment by the OP. How incredibly insulting to HS math teachers, who are the reasons college math professors have any students at all.
Another thing I would like to point out is I am not just aiming at being a professor. I am also thinking of researching in the science and math fields. I also had a plan to minor in statistics to maybe even work in industry just in case. But my heart is in academia.