Friday, November 07, 2008

Administrative skills

*poof* Sorry. This one seemed just too grumpy. I guess I am disappointed that Obama can't start right now.

2 comments:

Professor Zero said...

I keep poofing posts that would be entitled "Dear (Prospective) Graduate Student." I am grumpy and would like to spill vitriol and make severe pronouncements but locally my blog isn't entirely anonymous.

Topics:
1. What are the expectations for a PhD exam. I keep getting these b.s. essays in recent years and students are shocked that I think they are b.s., because I (unlike them) think you have to base them on facts and not just semi-free association. They seem to be so concerned to be original that they forget to learn facts.
2. People who aren't sure they should do a PhD and want to be reassured before applying, or, alternatively, are convinced they need a PhD and a professor job but do not realize what it entails. "I don't like libraries, so I don't want to be a librarian, I want to be a professor."

undine said...

It's too bad you can't post about these, because they'd be valuable, especially for people convinced of the fluid nature of things like facts and qualifications.