Should I drop out of grad school?

juillet
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:44:31 +0000

If you know that you don’t want to be an actor, and you know that you want to start over with something else, then why on earth would you stay somewhere you are bored and miserable? If you know you want to get a graduate degree in something else to prepare you for some other type of career, leave your MFA program and then go pursue that something else.

When I was considering leaving, I learned some very valuable things:

1) The age you are is the age you are, regardless of whether you leave or stay. if you will be 30 in two years, you will be 30 regardless of what you choose to do. Do you want to be 30 and miserable in an MFA program (or just finishing one), or do you want to be 30 and moving on to something else that you like better?

2) A sweet deal is not so sweet if you hate it. So what if the MFA is free? If you don’t want to use it, it’s like a free sample of a top-line shampoo for a bald dude.

3) I 50% disagree with Batllo. Life is too short to be miserably slaving away in a program you hate for a degree you won’t use. You don’t complete a degree for the self-satisfaction; you complete a degree because it’s a credential for something. The other 50% I agree with thought, and I’ll outline in a few moments.

The questions that the other posters asked are relevant. Is this a sudden onset of anxiety? Many grad students get that halfway through their program. They’re deep enough in that they can’t see the beginning anymore, but there’s no light at the end of the tunnel yet. There is much panicking and realization that the job market sucks, sometimes the work is boring and miserable, omg I am so tired of taking classes, etc. Your job is decide whether this is a momentary panic that needs sleep, therapy, good food and kvetching with other grad students to get over - or whether it’s a symptom of something bigger, whether you really just don’t want to do this crap anymore and whether you want to move on to something else that will also fulfill you.

Do you want to stay in the field or any related field? Then an MFA may be useful.

The caveat for this, and the other 50%, is that I believe a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I believe in not moving on to the next unless you have something lined up. I contemplated dropping out of my PhD program in the middle of my 3rd year. It’s smack dab in that halfway point. I started applying for jobs while I continued to complete the requirements for my degree - because I was getting paid, yo. You have to eat. So even if you decide to leave, it may be worth it to stay until you are financially read to cut ties - unless the program is driving you so crazy that you HAVE to have out.