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Category Archives: Graduate Student Concerns
Chronic Illness, Disability and Heternormativity on the Tenure Track (A Follow-Up Guest Post)
This post is a follow-up to the guest post earlier this week, “The Real Life of a Tenure Track Faculty Person.” That post generated an enormous amount of reaction and comment that is still going on. One of the commenters … Continue reading
The Real Life of a Tenure Track Faculty Person (A Guest Post)
This guest post came out of a conversation that’s been percolating among readers on the blog, facebook page, and over email, about the actual financial risks and repercussions of doing a Ph.D.. Indeed, last week’s blog post, Should You Go … Continue reading
Should You Go To Graduate School?
The “don’t go to graduate school” debate has flared up again this past week with the publication of this piece in Slate, “Thesis Hatement: Getting a Literature Ph.D. Will Turn You Into an Emotional Train Wreck, Not a Professor. The … Continue reading
The Baggage We Bring: An Email From A Bootcamp Client
This email from a client, following on an Interview Bootcamp with Kellee, is an insightful articulation of the ways that anxieties, resentments, and insecurities about your work and the profession can seep into your ability to prepare for and perform … Continue reading
Working the Conference: A Letter from a Client
I have a series of blog posts called How To Work the Conference Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Here is a story from last week that shows why you should do what they say. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Karen, I … Continue reading
The Imposter Syndrome, or, as my Mother told me: “Just Because Everyone Else is an Asshole, it Doesn’t Make you a Fraud.” (A Guest Post)
Today’s post is a Guest Post submitted by a reader of the blog named Phyllis Rippeyoung. Phyllis is an Associate Professor with tenure, and wrote in with a comment about “Imposter Syndrome.” I responded by asking her if she’d be … Continue reading
How and Why to Write Collaboratively: A Guest Post
For the next bit of time I will be posting special guest posts early in the week, in addition to my regular Friday post. These guest posts are kindly submitted by readers in response to requests that arise on the … Continue reading
Banish These Words
Do not use the words “unique” or “burgeoning” in any of your job documents. They are painfully overused. The first is just trite. The second is over-dramatic. That is all.
Posted in Graduate Student Concerns, How to Get Grants and Fellowships, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, How To Write CVs, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Teaching Portfolios, Writing Instrumentally
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How to Write a Recommendation Letter
Today’s post is a special request post for all the people who have written in the past few months asking for a post on writing recommendation letters. A few of these folks have been letter-writers, but most of them are … Continue reading
Posted in Bad Advisors and Good Mentors, Graduate Student Concerns, How To Choose and Manage Recommenders, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Promote Yourself!, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Writing Instrumentally
Tagged How to write a recommendation letter
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The Perils of “Nice,” Cont’d: Recommendation Edition
I got to see a letter of rec this week, and was stunned at the way it sabotaged my client, a SUPERB AND TOTALLY HARD-ASS candidate. It did this apparently from the best of intentions, by burying her achievements … Continue reading
