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The Professor Is In

Guidance for all things PhD: Graduate School, Job Market and Careers

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Graduate Student Concerns

How to Write Your Own Rec. Letter, plus All of my Vitae columns

By Karen Kelsky | January 22, 2016

In my two+ gratifying and enjoyable years of writing for Chronicle Vitae, I've only had one column rejected by them, and it is this one, which I submitted late in December as an end-of-year compendium of all my columns, organized thematically. I … [Read more...] about How to Write Your Own Rec. Letter, plus All of my Vitae columns

Filed Under: Advising Advice, Graduate Student Concerns, How To Choose and Manage Recommenders, How to Interview, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Negotiating Offers, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, The Campus Visit, What Not To Wear, Your Second and Third Jobs

Advisors, #dobetter

By Karen Kelsky | December 18, 2015

A reader wrote to share a case of useless department head job market advice.  I pass it on with his/her full permission,* in the hopes that those of you who are advisers will reflect on your own practices, and do better. The department head response … [Read more...] about Advisors, #dobetter

Filed Under: Advising Advice, Bad Advisors and Good Mentors, How to Interview

Ph.D. Debt Survey Revisited

By Karen Kelsky | November 21, 2015

Remember my Ph.D. Debt Survey (who could forget it?) -- my crowdsourced google spreadsheet from 2014, of volunteered reader debt information from their undergraduate and graduate studies?  (It's still open--feel free to add your own info using the … [Read more...] about Ph.D. Debt Survey Revisited

Filed Under: Advising Advice, Graduate Student Concerns, Ph.D. Poverty, Stop.Acting.Like.A.Grad.Student, Strategizing Your Success in Academia

On Foregone Earnings, or the Economics of Adjunct Life (A Guest Post)

By Karen Kelsky | June 8, 2015

by Russ Burgos In August 1994, at age 31, I started graduate school in the hope (widely shared) of becoming One Who Professes. In May 2015, at age 52 and stuck in the adjunct life like a bug on flypaper, I rather wish I hadn’t. It’s the money, you … [Read more...] about On Foregone Earnings, or the Economics of Adjunct Life (A Guest Post)

Filed Under: Adjunct Issues, Advising Advice, Graduate Student Concerns, Ph.D. Poverty, Post-Ac Job Search, Quitting--An Excellent Option, Strategizing Your Success in Academia

Update on My Book: Blurbs, Reviews, and a Promotion

By Karen Kelsky | May 23, 2015

The book inches closer to actually existing in the material world (August 4)!  It has gotten some lovely blurbs by amazing people, like this one by the inimitable Rebecca Schuman: “If you would like your academic career to begin in delusion and end … [Read more...] about Update on My Book: Blurbs, Reviews, and a Promotion

Filed Under: Adjunct Issues, Advising Advice, Bad Advisors and Good Mentors, Graduate Student Concerns, How To Choose and Manage Recommenders, How To Do Conferences, How to Get Grants and Fellowships, How to Interview, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, How To Write CVs, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Negotiating Offers, Ph.D. Poverty, Post-Ac Job Search, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Teaching Portfolios, The Campus Visit, What Not To Wear

VAPS and Why They Suck – A Guest Post

By Karen Kelsky | April 24, 2015

This guest post is co-written by two veterans of the VAP-front who know whereof they speak.  All too painfully. A followup from one of them:  "One of these co-authors is taking another VAP because she hates herself." This piece was originally … [Read more...] about VAPS and Why They Suck – A Guest Post

Filed Under: Graduate Student Concerns, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Ph.D. Poverty, Quitting--An Excellent Option, Shame, Strategizing Your Success in Academia

Buy My Book!

By Karen Kelsky | April 10, 2015

Love the blog? Now get it in handy book form--only $11.40!  Available for pre-order now--comes out August 4! Buy it at all these places! It also makes a great gift for all those struggling grad students in your life! For bulk orders for use … [Read more...] about Buy My Book!

Filed Under: Advising Advice, Alt-University Critique, Bad Advisors and Good Mentors, Book Proposals and Contracts, Graduate Student Concerns, How To Build Your Tenure File, How To Choose and Manage Recommenders, How To Do Conferences, How to Get Grants and Fellowships, How to Interview, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, How To Write CVs, International Perspectives, Intersectional Analyses, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Mental Health and Academia, Negotiating Offers, Ph.D. Poverty, Post-Ac Job Search, Postdoc Issues, Promote Yourself!, Publishing Issues, Quitting--An Excellent Option, Resumes & Postac Docs, Shame, Stop.Acting.Like.A.Grad.Student, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Surviving Assistant Professorhood, Teaching and Research Statements, Teaching Portfolios, Tenure--How To Get It, The Campus Visit, What Not To Wear, Work/Life Balance in Academia, Writing, Yes, You Can: Women in Academia, Your Second and Third Jobs

I Don’t Know You

By Karen Kelsky | March 13, 2015

In last week's Job Offer Digest, one of my successful clients wrote this: "Still, don't kid yourself; working with Dr. Karen is hard! It forces you to take a long hard look at yourself, your work, and your presentation of your work. As she knows you … [Read more...] about I Don’t Know You

Filed Under: Advising Advice, Graduate Student Concerns, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Writing

Strategizing Your CV for the Job Market

By Karen Kelsky | January 30, 2015

It's that time again! Alert readers know that each Spring I provide a limited-time CV Strategizing Session service between February and April.  The idea is to look ahead to the Fall 2015 market, and help graduate students going on the market for the … [Read more...] about Strategizing Your CV for the Job Market

Filed Under: Advising Advice, Bad Advisors and Good Mentors, Graduate Student Concerns, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Strategizing Your Success in Academia

An Inconvenient Truth (A Guest Post)

By Karen Kelsky | November 4, 2014

A reader got in touch to tell me about an infuriating experience at a recent conference. I asked her to write it up as a guest post, and here it is. Professors: stop the madness. Tell graduate students the goddamned truth. Dear Karen, I just … [Read more...] about An Inconvenient Truth (A Guest Post)

Filed Under: Adjunct Issues, Advising Advice, Bad Advisors and Good Mentors, Major Job Market Mistakes, Ph.D. Poverty, Quitting--An Excellent Option, Shame, Stop.Acting.Like.A.Grad.Student, Strategizing Your Success in Academia

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