"I Did Everything Right" 1

Melanie Hubbard, a Columbia Ph.D. with articles, an NEH fellowship, and a book contract has never been interviewed for a tenure-track job. She has served on contingent appointments at bartenders' wages for 10 years. Part 1

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Columbia
• Ivy
• League
• Colleges
• universities
• professors
• graduate
• grad
• students
• adjuncts
• faculty
• unions
• contingent
• poverty
• working poor
• AAUP
• PhD
• Marc Bousquet

[dinamo4889]

She is the problem not the solution. It is people like her that brainwash people to stay in college with no jobs prospects. I learned so much more from military service that I ever had in grad school or undergrad. But I am still unemployed lmao..... during the fall of the soviet union the educated class were some of the worst alcoholics. I am going for a job interview to be a janitor in a homeless shelter on Monday yes!!!!!!!!

[WarrenAch]

No you didn't.

When:

1)Your UG/Masters grades were terrible.

2)You have NO connections.

3)You suck at making CVs

4)You suck at interviewing

5)The School where you went for UG/Masters probably sucked too.

6)You only spent time releasing bullshit and rushed papers/articles without trying to team up with bigger researchers and get even more valuable experience.

7)The "field" you specialize in sucks balls as well.

Sorry, but the Economy's not the problem, it's you.

[MultiSmartass1]

@katyonok In my case, I didn't have a choice. I had no money and no job after graduating with my Bachelor's Degree. The only job I got out of college was in radio as a Board Operator, nearly a year out of college. Getting a masters or Phd in English or History would have meant going into massive debt.

There is no chance that I will go back to school in my 40's because Iam flat broke and Iam too wary of the US economy which is debt based casino structured sham and nightmare.

Sorry Grad school!

[katyonok]

@MultiSmartass1 Not going to grad school in English/History was a smart move! I seriously considered Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics, but declined an offer after reading about the hiring crisis. I know that the market is though, especially now, but many HRs still see humanities PhDs as "oervqualified" for anything else than academia!

[jenlinc2006]

The problem here is upfront. This PhD is not willing to move. That is the first rule of the rules of academia- you must be willing to go where the job is. Those institutions she mentioned will have one position open each in a generation she would be suited for. Honestly, this is like complaining about not getting a job as a professional sports player but not being willing to leave your hometown.

This would be much more effective if she wasn't geographically restricted.

[Rockynurse]

@lala234lala

You know I will be graduating soon with my BA in accounting. The other day at a coffee shop I met someone working on a PHD in english at my school. He was about to graduate into the real world. We struck up a conversation and eventually I ended up discussing emerging financial issues relevant to our generation. This PHD guy was financially illiterate and headed for disaster. He had no idea about the BANKRUPTCY EXEMPT student loan even though he had 70k in loans.

Ignorance..

[Rockynurse]

LOL

You are not entitled to anything. Society does not owe you a livable salary. You sound like the typical baby boomer "But I just have to have this". Unfortunately my generation must pay for your financial illiteracy baby boomer sins. Hopefully we can force the baby boomers to own up to their mistakes by cutting social security.

[Gulfporter]

Poor baby. Owns a 4000 square foot waterfront home on an acre and a half in Florida. Life is just so hard.

[MultiSmartass1]

@katyonok I have a BA degree. I studied English and minored in history. I chose not to get MA and PHD in English because 1) I would have had to go to a topflight school like Stanford to get noticed since I went to a tiny state school and 2) it was too damn expensive and I was broke at the end of 4 years.

I chose to be a freelancer for 15 years. Now I consider myself semi-retired because of this economy. Life sure is tough when you're educated.

[MsGONZALEZ93]

my husband got laid off and I talk him into going to foodstamps and we get $73 that's it