Iwriter for graduate school8/14/2023 ![]() Selling writing involves a lot more than just writing, such as: If I was going to be a writer–and, ideally, get paid to do it–I needed to know how to sell my writing. However, this discounted the years that I would be spending in school–years that might, actually, be better invested not in the classroom, but in getting hands-on experience. I thought that a graduate degree was the best investment of my time.Ī graduate degree provides a helpful credential, and even if I ended up pursuing a career track a little different from what I studied, I figured that the degree would be a nice selling point on my resume. And what I found is that things did not line up. ![]() Once I had this clear definition of success, I evaluated my decision to go to graduate school based on it. Ideally, I wanted a full-time position that allowed me to do this. Once I realized that this, I had an even harder task: define success for myself.Īfter much thought, I realized that success for me is having several hours of time a day to write about Christianity, the topic that I care about the most. ![]() When I was in the throes of decision-making about graduate school, I was realizing that the version of success pushed on me as a student was not authentic to me. However, we must define success for ourselves. While it was kindly meant, the result of this was that I began to equate obtaining a graduate degree with success. The idea excited me–I looked up to many of my professors, and it felt good to receive their affirmation. I let other people define success for me.Īs a high school student, my counselor told me that I was “graduate school material.” This was reinforced to me at different levels in my undergraduate career. Over the next few days, I began to think hard about my decision to apply to graduate school in the first place and what I wanted my future to look like, and I realized I had made three crucial mistakes in the application process. The thought of turning down the offer I had worked hard for–I had invested well over $1,000 in fees for applications and standardized tests, as well as hours on research and writing personal statements–baffled me, but once it had taken root, it wouldn’t leave. There was no single turning point, but a gut feeling that something wasn’t right. I went to find an apartment in my new city, excited to start a new adventure, but I left without signing a lease and with a sick feeling in my stomach: I didn’t think graduate school was for me. When I received a fully-funded offer, I accepted it without a second thought. This seemed to be the safest route to pursue writing professionally because it would build up my resume with an added credential. When I returned from the Fulbright, I applied to funded graduate programs in English. I did not want to want to be a writer–could I have picked a more uncertain path?–but I could not shake the conviction that writing was the only career path that made sense for me. When nothing stuck, I tried teaching and completed a Fulbright ETA in Greece, but even then, I found myself coming back to the same thing: I wanted to be a writer. While I knew that I loved writing, I did not know how I would turn it into a viable career, and so I pursued other interests–music, theology, medicine–in hopes of finding a stable option while funding my writing projects on the side. ![]() When I was in college, I struggled with knowing what I wanted to do professionally.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |