onefixedstar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
onefixedstar) wrote2003-09-13 10:15 pm
onefixedstar) wrote2003-09-13 10:15 pm
Free food, free booze, four years
Ah, the life of a graduate student. Last night was the final official orientation event, and our third night of free food and free booze this week. This particular event was dinner at the department chair's house with the professors who'll be teaching the required courses this year. During Monday's academic orientation, the chair described is as an informal event designed to let us talk to each other in a relaxed environment. We all quietly scoffed at that idea, but it actually turned out quite well. The evening was far more relaxed and enjoyable than I had anticipated, and I got a chance to talk to a few people I hadn't spoken with before. I have to confess, however, that after this week I'll be quite content if I'm never asked what areas of sociology I'm interested in.
After dinner, a group of us--four PhD students and one MA student--went out to a local gay martini bar where I had a crispy crunch martini; quite good but I couldn't finish it. There seems to be more of a divide here between the PhD students and MA students than at my old department; the MA student was very concerned about intruding on us although that wasn't the case at all. I think it's a function of the size of the department. When there are only fifteen people who show up regularly, you tend to bond by interest rather than status; when there are twenty-odd new students in a single year, you can be a little more selective.
Speaking of divides (and getting to the four years part), I've noticed over the past week in speaking with different faculty members that there's a definite philosophical divide in faculty attitudes towards PhD students. On the one side are the people (like the last graduate coordinator) who would prefer that we come in knowing exactly what we're going to do our dissertation on so that we can be out of here in fours years. (I should note that the average completion time is a little over six years, and that they just increased the number of requirements.) On the other side are the many faculty members who themselves took six years to finish their PhDs and who argue that there's simply no way any student can or should know what they're going to do one week into their program. My academic advisor falls into the latter category, which is fortunate since I don't know what I want to do (though I've got a convincing-sounding project lined up for the SSHRC applications that are due next month).
I'm having dinner tomorrow night with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stillvisions and another friend and I'm very much looking forward to not having to start the conversation with a thirty-second autobiography.
After dinner, a group of us--four PhD students and one MA student--went out to a local gay martini bar where I had a crispy crunch martini; quite good but I couldn't finish it. There seems to be more of a divide here between the PhD students and MA students than at my old department; the MA student was very concerned about intruding on us although that wasn't the case at all. I think it's a function of the size of the department. When there are only fifteen people who show up regularly, you tend to bond by interest rather than status; when there are twenty-odd new students in a single year, you can be a little more selective.
Speaking of divides (and getting to the four years part), I've noticed over the past week in speaking with different faculty members that there's a definite philosophical divide in faculty attitudes towards PhD students. On the one side are the people (like the last graduate coordinator) who would prefer that we come in knowing exactly what we're going to do our dissertation on so that we can be out of here in fours years. (I should note that the average completion time is a little over six years, and that they just increased the number of requirements.) On the other side are the many faculty members who themselves took six years to finish their PhDs and who argue that there's simply no way any student can or should know what they're going to do one week into their program. My academic advisor falls into the latter category, which is fortunate since I don't know what I want to do (though I've got a convincing-sounding project lined up for the SSHRC applications that are due next month).
I'm having dinner tomorrow night with
stillvisions and another friend and I'm very much looking forward to not having to start the conversation with a thirty-second autobiography.