Comments on: Seven reasons why graduate school is outdated

By: The Value of an MBA « Work the Divide

The Value of an MBA « Work the Divide — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:16:13 +0000

[...] Trunk, one of my favorite career bloggers, thinks that graduate school is totally unnecessary. I disagree. For someone like me, I finished university with a degree in foreign affairs and a [...]

By: What is grad school for a consultant (or practicing software engineer) at JAW Speak

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:15:26 +0000

[...] http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2008/06/18/seven-reasons-why-graduate-school-is-outdated Grad School isn't needed, and it causes more harm than good. Too much focus. Careers change too much. Experience trumps prolonged childlike academic sheltering. (Note: My opinion isn't so harsh. Your grad school might not apply, it depends on what you want to do). [...]

By: Dig Faster

Dig Faster — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:45:24 +0000

Hi Penelope,
As a graduate student 2 weeks from finishing my Ph.D. in the biomedical sciences field, I have to chime in and say that I couldn't agree with you more – every bullet point was spot on. Science (and grad school in general) totally sucks. I see all these thousands of Ph.D.'s and feel just absolute disdain for them – a bunch of losers. I was fortunate to have something else as a backup in case science ended up being a dead-end (which it basically is), and I'll be going down a more professional route than the academic route (bunch of losers, did I mention that before?). All I can hope to gain from my Ph.D. is to leverage the "prestige" of it as much as it can relate to my backup profession. So, not a total loss. A total loss would have been if I had just gone to grad school thinking it was a cool thing to do.

On another note, I'm a recent subscriber to your blog, and am now a big fan. Your stories are honest, insightful, and compelling. I applaud you. Cheers!

Dig

By: New York Forum

New York Forum — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:34:04 +0000

My personal opinion is that if you want to be a doctor or lawyer then you HAVE TO go to grad school. However, for those that pursue business school if you are not going to an ivy league school (looks good on resumes) then I think it is pointless. Business school can NOT teach you to hustle and work hard, that is up to the individual. If there is something that really interests you then just go for it. Text books will not teach you how to motivate yourself to land a deal. An example of a great businessman and entrepreneur would be Gary Vaynerchuck (check his wine library tv site).

By: Career Advice: Dan Schwabel vs Penelope Trunk | Viralogy Blog

Career Advice: Dan Schwabel vs Penelope Trunk | Viralogy Blog — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:25:31 +0000

[...] that grad school should only happen if you are ABSOLUTELY sure why you want it. Besides saying that graduate school is outdated, she states that advanced degrees in the Humanities are worthless, MBAs are only useful if you get [...]

By: mr luggage

mr luggage — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:43:50 +0000

this blog post is just terrible. its obvioulsy bbeen writen by someone who has not attended graduate school. We all go to university to gain knowledge in order to seperate ourselfs, in a way, from those who do not go. Education is a signaling device for perspective employers, the more of it you have the better your chances are of doing better. This author clearly doesnt know anything about about economic theories on the subject, even though he is quoting people with an economic background, who by the way must have attended graduate school………

By: Rebecca Payne

Rebecca Payne — Mon, 18 May 2009 04:19:39 +0000

This article is ridiculous. The author obviously has no idea what she's talking about when it comes to true academia, because this article is absolutely, totally, completely irrelevant to any PhD programs.

By: University « Denk Deutsch

University « Denk Deutsch — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:59:31 +0000

[...] An equivalent to the Ph.D. is "der Doktortitel", a thesis is called "die Doktorarbeit", your tutor is your "Doktorvater" (from "der Vater", father). It takes usually anywhere between 2 and 4 years to "make one's doctor" ("seinen Doktor machen"), sometimes it can be longer, especially in the Humanities where scholarships are almost non-existant and students live not far from the poverty line (it just reminds me of this). [...]

By: Amber

Amber — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:50:50 +0000

While I don't agree with everything you are saying, I think you are 100% right when you said "Graduate school requires you to know what will make you happy before you try it." I spent two years in grad school, prior to getting a great job offer. To make a long story short I quit school for that job and have found that nothing I learned in grad school applies to my job even though my job title is exactly what I majored in. Now that I have worked for a while I am going to a different program that is more tailored to my needs, particularly a professional studies program that is actually tailored to working people. Most of what I learned in grad school was theory rather than practical knowledge. If we are in the business of teaching people how to do things we need to leave the theory for ph.d and give masters students the chance to learn how to do things at an advanced pace (sort of a step above undergrad).

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:56:14 +0000

I don't know about this. Myself and plenty of the other "biology major" students who are graduating in a month are headed for professional schools…medical schools, vet schools, doctor of physical therapy (me= three years plus summers of grad study and clinicals). And while I absolutely can't speak for all of them, I can testify that I, after thorough research of my chosen career and tons of observational hours (required simply to APPLY to school), have decided to get into my field because I want to help people and I think that I would be very good at it. Period. A professional doctorate is needed, so I will get it. I don't want to prolong childhood, I don't necessarily yearn for praise, and I definitely don't think this is the easy choice. I do, however, want to learn as much as possible. Some people do go to graduate school because they love to learn and to research, and while my degree is a "professional degree", I will get the chance to do some research and participate in some important projects. And I love to learn. There are people like that out there.
On the other hand, I can say that this is a small population of people, from what I have gathered. But it does exist.