The School/Uni Thread

[Pessimism]

I'm graduating in June but I'll be done with school by April 29th. My plan is to return to Arlington for May/beginning of June so I can have some vacation time plus go to the Deathfest. After that I will return to Toronto and officially graduate. Then I will get a post-graduate work permit and try to find a job. The areas I'm planning to look are government, universities/colleges, and U of T Press. After working for a year I can become a permanent resident, which is my plan at the moment.

This is essentially my position.

Time to see if it is in fact true that a philosophy degree will net you nothing outside of academia that is fulfilling.

 

[Zephyrus]

The enrollment in Greek 101 has reached critical mass, so it looks like I'll have a teaching position this Fall at UMaine! Should be a good time, because I'll also be taking a couple graduate level history classes as a non-degree student.

As for the Spring after that, it really depends on whether I can keep teaching and if I can enter the grad school here proper. If they don't dish out TA-ships for the Spring semester, I may be hosed. But I'll find something.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Excellent news Chris! I'm so glad to hear that things are going well for you.

I'm still terrified of graduate school, but at least I am growing more apathetic to this terror then previously.

In the meantime I'm not finding the motivation to work on a mere 7 page paper on the literary criticisms of Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath". I do have more then enough research though.

 

[Pessimism]

Excellent news Chris! I'm so glad to hear that things are going well for you.

I'm still terrified of graduate school, but at least I am growing more apathetic to this terror then previously.

In the meantime I'm not finding the motivation to work on a mere 7 page paper on the literary criticisms of Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath". I do have more then enough research though.

LOL; I have a pitiful 5 page paper concerning the characterizations of the psychological and physical characteristics on alien lifeforms and environments in Stanley G. Weinbaum’s “A Martian Odyssey” and Clifford D. Simak’s “Desertion.”

More than enough to write about, but so little motivation.

But hey, at least you are doing grad school. Frankly I can't fucking stand the bullshit, but to each their own. More than likely I'll be forced into it (of which there is no guaranteed acceptance).

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I'm not in grad school yet. I'm only a sophomore transferring to a 4-year this fall.

 

[Pessimism]

Ah, well HOPEFULLY if that is still your plan when the time comes, you get into it.

 

[Addo_Of_Nex]

A ten-page paper on a selected topic of my choice from the shit we read from the Aristotelian corpus is haunting me right now. It wouldn't be stressful if I was just aiming for an A, but I need to use this as an opportunity to write something that can potentially (no pun) get accepted to an undergraduate conference. My professor last semester said that the seven page paper I wrote for his seminar is certainly worthy; but the minimum seems to be ten for the conferences around here. I really can't wait to move on to modern philosophy because I feel so incompetent offering commentary on any ancient stuff when I don't know any Greek at all.

Congrats on the success, Cyth. It's always nice to see people doing well, and it motivates me to get my ass in gear when I'm dragging.

 

[Cythraul]

Thanks for the kind words, my home skillets. I hope all your studies go well too.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

I steamrolled a page and a quarter today. I got till Thursday, whatever.

 

[Episteme]

Nearing the end of the degree in Chemical Engineering. Need to look for a job, I don't care where in the world but somewhere would be great. Time to contribute more to global warming! WOO!

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I'm about to graduate with my BFA in about 4 weeks (2 weeks until I'm done classes/finals though, then random 2 weeks of nothing which prevents me from MDF ); I have no idea what I want to do.

 

[Der Morgenstern]

Just finished a PhD.

I will be a professor, teaching my first course starting in May.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Just about done with my term paper on Wittgenstein. One edit to go. My lord, why did I choose to write the Tractatus instead of the Investigations. Made life much more difficult than I needed to. I guess I'm an intellectual masochist.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Just finished a PhD.

I will be a professor, teaching my first course starting in May.

Congrats. What will you be teaching?

 

[Der Morgenstern]

An introductory biomed eng course and an introductory biology course. At least they're letting me swim starting from the shallow end of the pool first.

 

[Pessimism]

You should change your name to Dr. Der Morgenstern

 

[unknown]

slowly beginning to realize we have a lot of smarties on here (maybe to balance the dumbasses?)

 

[Pessimism]

Possibly. The population of humble people also seems to be somewhat in balance when you consider the number of egotistical twats that call this place home.

 

[Addo_Of_Nex]

Just about done with my term paper on Wittgenstein. One edit to go. My lord, why did I choose to write the Tractatus instead of the Investigations. Made life much more difficult than I needed to. I guess I'm an intellectual masochist.

What are you writing about? Despite all of its flaws, I love the Tractatus if not only from a stylistic perspective. There's also a lot of good philosophy buried amidst the obvious inaccuracies.

 

[Cythraul]

I took a grad seminar on the Philosophical Investigations, and it was one of my least favorite courses of my entire time as a grad student. I really just don't like the way Wittgenstein wrote and I had a hell of a time trying to figure out what his arguments were (insofar as he had any arguments, ordinarily construed) and why he was making them. Part of the problem was that the professor who taught the course really wasn't much of a help in understanding this stuff. Everyone who took the course was way out of their depth, including me.

I'm "trained" to read conventional academic, analytic philosophers and to write like one. Moreover, I adhere to the conventional "Tell them what you're doing and why you're doing it, do it, and then tell them what you did" style of writing (I have to anyway, as this is the standard in college courses and academic writing generally.) I try very hard to avoid any kind of obfuscation. Wittgenstein completely subverts that, so reading him is often an infuriating experience for me. For a striking contrast in early analytic philosophy, check out G.E. Moore's Principia Ethica: clearly written and clearly argued (and a brilliant piece of philosophy to boot). That said, I haven't read the Tractatus, so I don't know whether I would find it more approachable.