In the Ivory Tower, leaving often becomes synonymous with quitting, losing, or failing. For that reason I asked Caroline Roberts, a successful individual, to tell the story of why she decided to leave grad school. Her candid guest blog inspired a flurry of positive comments, confirming my suspicion that we need to hear more about leaving as a positive life choice. So I’ve asked several people to guest blog the next couple of months. I’m really looking forward to hearing what they have to say, but Caroline and her blog, Post Academic, deserve a round of applause for being the first to step up to the plate.
I think most writers will talk about leaving grad school. The blogosphere’s grief-stricken grad students confirm that many programs still use peer pressure to instill dire fears about being a dirty quitter, part of their bullheaded insistence that not getting a glamorous tenure-track job is entirely your fault. By this logic, leaving is an unforgivable moral failing, and conversations on the topic are often rife with unspoken accusations more suited to a Tennessee Williams play than a cramped departmental kitchenette.
One way out. Come to think of it, this could be any academic on a Tuesday night.
There are also people out there who will tell you to finish the dissertation no matter what. I’m not so sure about that. Modern HR departments will electronically discard your application before you have the chance to give that great speech explaining what an accomplishment it was. Five years of steady employment at a university, on the other hand, look just fine. As Caroline rightly pointed out in her post, the most important thing for anyone in transition is the hustle; to me this suggests that the degree itself is something you can take or leave, depending on your career goals.
'I'm standing in the middle of the desert/ Waiting for my ship to come in/ But now no joker, no jack, no king/ Can take this loser hand and make it win'
I know the PC thing is to be all Deepak Chopra and tell you that everybody has their own path and academia might be right for some — but I can’t lie, I honestly don’t think it’s a good idea unless you’re an odds-defying masochist with a serious trust fund. So make no mistake, I’m encouraging you to leave, i.e. to choke the corporate university by taking away its exploited underclass. Yes, I’m ranting, but I’m hoping the guest posters will bring the Zen I haven’t quite mastered yet.
Still, I agree that there are some important questions everyone needs to decide for themselves: is leaving the same as quitting? Is quitting the same as failure? What’s the difference between quitting, stopping while you’re ahead, and minimizing your sunk costs? And hey, who gets to define failure, anyway?!
(Hint: You do. And if you don’t, certain types of people will be extremely happy to do it for you. Alec Baldwin has some choice words on this.)
I genuinely believe that no one else can make your decision. But since people positively insist on asking for advice, I’ll do my best to give you a variety of answers to choose from.
Here’s something I think we can all agree upon: keeping silent about leaving isn’t helping anyone. Let’s stop treating it like some horrible taboo. And maybe up the tempo a little…
To answer a few of your questions, yes, quitting and leaving are the same thing (assuming you don’t continue to engage in academic research afterward). However, this does not mean that either equals failure. If one quits smoking, have they failed to be a smoker? No. They just changed their behavior. The same thing goes for academia, any other job or project, etc.
I have a feeling that quitting is my best option, but that doesn’t make the decision any easier. I think the how to quit is more difficult to figure out than the should I quit question. Even worse is trying to explain to your non-academic friends and family why you want to quit after all this time and work.
a) They’re not the boss of you.
b) I realize it’s not always that easy, so be sure to check out the discussion over at On the Fence!
“But since people positively insist on asking for advice, I’ll do my best to give you a variety of answers to choose from.”
Oops, guilty as charged! I think my interest in seeking advice has to do, perhaps, with my decision to go to grad school in the first place. As in, I suspect that my decision to “get a PhD!!” wasn’t extremely well-informed, which might be prompting my current (obsessive?) information-seeking about My Next Move: Do I stay (in my program, academia, etc.) or go?
(That said, though, there’s something about all this “research” that might be squarely in the realm of avoidance/procrastination.)
I’m on the fence about whether to finish (as I mentioned before, finishing out of spite/vengeance is one of my less attractive motivations). But I have to say, hearing someone just say: “So make no mistake, I’m encouraging you to leave, i.e. to choke the corporate university by taking away its exploited underclass” is *so refreshing* and makes even thinking about this feel truly okay — and all of sudden, finishing (or not) becomes an actual choice that I get to make.
@Michael: I agree, the idea of sharing these decisions with others intimidates me. I’ve seen more advice about accounting for these shifts in interviews with future employers, but it seems to me that we would need to tell our friends and loved ones a different story. Especially if their own lives have been “on hold” because we’re working on our degrees.
Oh, I was just being cranky. It’s totally normal to ask for advice, but no one ever takes it anyway, and advice columnists are always telling you not to give unasked for adviced — ironic, no?
And hey, I’m a Platonist. You always have a choice, even if your options aren’t great.
I also find the anti-quitting culture of grad school and academia fascinating because, in other jobs, people quit all the time. It is perfectly normal–and expected–to leave if a better job opportunity arises. As long as you time your departure correctly and don’t screw someone over by dumping some gnarly unfinished projects on them, you’ll get a fond farewell. Sometimes, you might get a farewell party with FREE FOOD and BOOZE that is better than the free food and booze you would get in the university. (Free food and booze are big deals to me. Not all companies have it, but if you land at one that does, it’s amazing.)
In all environments except academia, it is okay to act on your self-interest and do what is right for you and your career. Unless your boss is an asshole (and if you have an asshole boss, read the “No Asshole Rule”), you can go on your merry way, and no one will judge you.
Thanks for pointing this out, Caroline! And keep up the commentary on what the real world looks like. I really appreciate your willingness to bridge the gap for academics and non-academics.
I think Quit is the right word for it, while Fail is not (nor is Incomplete…). You’re allowed to quit, and move onto better things if it’s what’s necessary for you.
Of course, there are clearly enough people who disagree that it has become taboo, but they can stuff it.
Now that’s the attitude I’m looking for!
Oh, I so totally agree with this posting! I’ve noticed that many of my colleagues think that the idea that one might leave academia, especially post PhD, is considered as a failure (ie not getting a tenure track job) rather than a choice on the part of the person concerned. It amazes me that many just don’t understand that the university system trained far too many people than the system could absorb anyway! Why should someone feel ‘guilty’ for not getting a job and feel as if they ought to apologize for seeking a job in the ivory tower!!? Ah!
I know, it’s terrible. The established profs often take this bizarre, neo-capitalist mentality of ‘Well, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and you can too!’, completely ignoring the fact that the statistics have changed dramatically.
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What a great post. Don’t you worry about the ranty parts either. They make it better. Leaving is not quitting in my opinion. People switch up their plans all the time. Sometimes you have to be moving towards a specific goal to realize on the way there that your true calling is a detour from that path.
Yeah, I’m not so sure I’d equate quitting with leaving, at least in my case. I don’t seem to be able to quit talking about history, even after leaving…