We should talk sometime! I'm going through something similar with this whole law school ambition thing--I'm not sure I'm actually going to law school at this point, which probably sounds weirder to the Eustace kids who saw ONLY "lawschoollawschoolmocktriallawschoollawschool" Kim. The good thing about both of our situations is that we are 23 years old. We don't NEED to have life figured out right now. It's scary not to, and it's even scarier to think about changing plans at this point, but look at where we are in the grander scheme of things--we are (even looking pessimistically!) only about a quarter of the way into our lives, and have SO much time to figure out where we're going. If you decide that you don't want to be in academia because of your experience in grad school, then good! You've explored a route that you thought would be the one and realized that you wouldn't be happy doing it. This is valuable information. Ultimately, while the cost of grad school seems huge now in terms of time, money, and distance, take that over a lifetime of eventual happiness once you DO realize what you're going to do and it won't seem like a bad investment at all.
ugh, it's so hard! Especially because even knowing that we've got time to figure it out, it FEELS like we should know everything now. I'm glad you're getting the experience with WISER though.
One of the things I've realized about my last job is that, while it was a crappy crappy job, it was really useful in showing me what was and wasn't important to me. I'm able to look at it now and go "I liked that; I hated that." I think grad school is kind of similar. You don't need to love it all of the time; you just need to be honest with yourself about what's working and what's not.
...also, if it's any help, I've heard almost no one be like "I LOVE GRAD SCHOOL!!!" Instead it's mostly "This will be worth it, and some of this is really really awesome, but some of this is total crap." So yes.
We should talk sometime! I'm going through something similar with this whole law school ambition thing--I'm not sure I'm actually going to law school at this point, which probably sounds weirder to the Eustace kids who saw ONLY "lawschoollawschoolmocktriallawschoollawschool" Kim. The good thing about both of our situations is that we are 23 years old. We don't NEED to have life figured out right now. It's scary not to, and it's even scarier to think about changing plans at this point, but look at where we are in the grander scheme of things--we are (even looking pessimistically!) only about a quarter of the way into our lives, and have SO much time to figure out where we're going. If you decide that you don't want to be in academia because of your experience in grad school, then good! You've explored a route that you thought would be the one and realized that you wouldn't be happy doing it. This is valuable information. Ultimately, while the cost of grad school seems huge now in terms of time, money, and distance, take that over a lifetime of eventual happiness once you DO realize what you're going to do and it won't seem like a bad investment at all.
ReplyDeleteOK must run or I'll be late for work (?)
ugh, it's so hard! Especially because even knowing that we've got time to figure it out, it FEELS like we should know everything now. I'm glad you're getting the experience with WISER though.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I've realized about my last job is that, while it was a crappy crappy job, it was really useful in showing me what was and wasn't important to me. I'm able to look at it now and go "I liked that; I hated that." I think grad school is kind of similar. You don't need to love it all of the time; you just need to be honest with yourself about what's working and what's not.
...also, if it's any help, I've heard almost no one be like "I LOVE GRAD SCHOOL!!!" Instead it's mostly "This will be worth it, and some of this is really really awesome, but some of this is total crap." So yes.
<3
~Carolyn