So most of you know I am getting my PhD {in English, in case you were wondering}. I want to be a professor and getting the ol’ PhD is really the only way to go about it. I am in my second year of what will probably be a six year endeavor.
But before you convince yourself that I am all smarty pants and driven and scholarly and all that jazz, let me tell you that truth…
I am a bad graduate student.
I mean, I am good at “doing school.” I can write well, I’m not afraid to speak up in class, I always meet deadlines {although I can procrastinate with the best of them}, I am a fairly confident and innovative teacher, but when it comes to grad school, I really just feel like a big fat faker most of the time.
See, in graduate school we are supposed to read all the time. When we finish our assigned reading, we are supposed to read other scholarly articles for fun. During summer break we are supposed to brush up on our Aristotle and return to school in the fall with fresh, new ideas that no one has ever thought of before, and should probably have a draft of a paper that is almost ready for publication. Ooops. Maybe I chose the wrong profession. I don’t read scholarly articles for fun; instead, I anxiously await summer break so I can catch up on my Real Simple magazines.
Today in a meeting, one of my classmates started talking about a concept he is working on with mapping. The problem he sees is that when we make maps {of any sort – not just geographical} they are static. They don’t show movement or changes over time. If too many things change, you just have to make a brand new map to account for it, so he is trying to think of ways we can make non-static {moving} maps in academia. I spent the next five minutes thinking about the Marauder’s Map from Harry Potter {the one that shows where people are moving all over Hogwarts} and decided that a Harry Potter allusion would be a most excellent introduction to the mapping article that this classmate will probably be publishing next year after he brushes up on his Aristotle over summer vacation. Harry Potter is my Aristotle.
So there it is. I am a bad grad, but I’m okay with it. I will keep faking it each and every day… and maybe, someday, I, too, will publish a paper with Harry Potter introduction. I can only hope…
xoxo,
Jen
this is awesome – and thats so great that you're getting a phd! way to go 🙂
Whew okay this makes me feel better because I'm planning on going back to grad school and reading academic articles isn't something I plan on doing for fun either. lol Glad to know I'm not the only one!
Maybe my new favorite quote, "Harry Potter is my Aristotle." Haha!! Love it!
I am so with you on this! I am in a Romans Galatians course and some of the students read these crazy books for fun and I am always thinking wow I must be an awful student! Check out my blog tomorrow I would love to feature you in a new series I want to start!
-Nichole
http://andwhatcouldstandagainst.blogspot.com/
I just stumbled onto your blog, but I can so identify with this post. I finished my MBA in May 2011 & I've considered getting a Ph. D, but I'm scared they'll revoke my MBA when they realize that surely there was a mistake & I can't have possibly earned it. Ha!
I always say, "fake it 'til you make it." Way to hang in there with grad school. Getting my MA kicked my butt and sometimes I consider the PhD thing, but most days I tell myself how much I'd rather read blogs and magazines. I'm proud of you, hang in there!
LOL- you crack me up! "Harry Potter is my Aristotle" 🙂
Btw- where do you get fake glasses from?! I want a pair but can't ever seem to find any that are affordable and CLEAR-glass, no prescrip!
I am right there with you. I got my Masters in Spanish and did as little reading as possible!! I was such a bad graduate student!
I don't know how you do all that reading! I'm helping Ben out with his last literature class and it's just so intense how much reading and writing is required. He's so happy to be doing a science degree because he doesn't have to take anymore english classes after this one 🙂
hahah you arent a bad grad!!! According to my husband, reading the internet and magazines totally counts as reading 😉
Heck yes! That's exactly how I was when I was getting my MBA. Needless to say I bailed out on the PHD because I'd had it with school at the time… Maybe someday. But until then I'll read Harry Potter guilt free! haha.
girl you crack me up! you are amazing, not a bad grad student 🙂
Well all I really have to say is that you're going to make an amazing professor, due in large part if not entirely to the fact that you'll be able to make appropriate Harry Potter references in the discussions that come up in your classes.