# Is being a graduate student really this crappy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-graduate-student-really-this-crappy/243059>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 1, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-graduate-student-really-this-crappy/243059 "2004-05-01T23:36:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-graduate-student-really-this-crappy/243059/41 "2004-05-04T00:38:07Z")

</div>

Well, as I started off my final year of undergraduate studies, the choice was clear:

a) Five years of dead-end retail jobs  
b) Five years of studying a field that interests me

I understand that the possibility of getting a decent job in my field after the PhD is not large, but it’s a hell of a lot better than I’d do with a BA in said field (Linguistics) and a BA in a language I barely speak (French).

As a transfer from a community college which had few French classes and no Linguistics classes, I have spent the last several quarters taking _twice_ the normal course load for a full-time student, so that I could catch up and graduate this June after a total of six years of college. All upper-division classes with heavy workloads. Can’t say as the workload in grad school frightens me much.

I have no illusions that my life in grad school come August will be easy. But it beats serving coffee 40 hours a week for seven bucks an hour.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-graduate-student-really-this-crappy/243059/42 "2004-05-04T00:48:21Z")

</div>

This is _ **not** _ what I needed to hear. [Help.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=253175)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-graduate-student-really-this-crappy/243059/43 "2004-05-04T00:51:44Z")

</div>

Thread closed per request of OP.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-being-a-graduate-student-really-this-crappy/243059.md?page=2)