(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

So tomorrow I will be winging my way back to good old NZL and, while I have had a lovely lovely trip, I am definitely looking forward to my own bed, internet access, bookshelves, dresser drawers, etc. (ftr I probably won't be blogging the rest of my trip except for the conference because, even though it was fantastic, I am self-aware enough to know that if I didn't do it on the days I was travelling, I probably won't have time/impetus to do it when I get home. However, if you want to, ask me questions!)

The other Big Thing in my life now is: I'm turning 22 on the 22nd of July this year. I feel like someone who is 22 is someone who has a few things straightened out. Someone who isn't 21 anymore (well, OK, obvious.) Someone who at least knows what they're doing next year. Someone who maybe knows if they want to be studying for an MA, a PhD, a cooking class or a publishing course. (These are the options currently in the air for me. It's possible I could combine some, e.g. trying to get funding to do a summer course at one of the USA publishing courses (like maybe in NY which would obviously be ridiculous) while simultaneously working or interning or doing a chef's course or a PhD. I don't know, there are lots of publishing courses in the world, whitireia offers a year-long course for example which includes a paid intern programme - and it's Wellington where I already have a good job.) So, anyway: by the time I turn 22, 10 days from when I get back to Wellington, I would like to have picked one. Therefore absolutely every one of you should weigh in with an opinion. I would very much like to get a PhD but the idea of applying for funding kind of makes me pull this hideous and horrible face (plus, I'm not sure my self-esteem could handle it when nobody wanted me, which I am pretty sure is what would happen.) And also I'm frankly a bit sick of not having any money and working idiot hours and not having any DIRECTION. I need direction. Give me some!

Comments

[callie]

Arrrrgh. This has been on my mind way too much as well - and I'm a good 2.5 years older than you. The Whitireia publishing course is on my possible list.

FWIW one of my friends has been applying for PhD funding from several NZ universities (some successful, some not) and the process doesn't look too horrendous - it's going before the research committee that, from my outsider's perspective, looks daunting, but if your lecturers are expecting it, that's a pretty good guide, so you probably don't need to worry too much.

[hazel]

Hmm. This is probably completely unhelpful, but I think that if you're not super-eager enough about any of those things to be able to say, yes, I want to do that above all else, then it is seriously okay to spend a year or two figuring it out. And, like you say, you have a good job... why not just do that for a while until you've got a better idea of what you actually want.*

For example, the 3 and a half years I spent after uni in a series of jobs I didn't enjoy much (including my first office job) involved a lot of work-related rage and emo lj posts, but I'm really glad I didn't jump straight into looking (probably futilely) for grad work or go and attempt a law degree when I was 19. And it's definitely made me more grateful for (a) my awesome, awesome job, and (b) the study I am doing, even if I'm a slackass.

But! You seem like an actual GROUNDED and WELL-ROUNDED person, so IDK. Uh. If a PhD is REALLY what you want to be working towards, though, there's no harm in trying to get funding, even if it is a horrible, soul-destroying process (and callie doesn't seem to think it is).

* Unless your problem is things-you-want-to-do>time-you-have-to-do-them. In that case, time to work out your priorities may or may not be helpful.

[aimeesworld.livejournal.com]

Well, from all accounts (i.e. my mother), the Whitireia publishing course is pretty neat. So, you know, if an American Publishing School didn't work out, it's certainly a good option for getting into NZ publishing.
Ungh PhD funding. God, that's got to be stressful. My theory on postgrad education (aside from honours obviously) is that you get life experience first and then go back to it, having done a lot of thinking. But that is obviously not everyone's opinion.

I am very excited to hear about the conference, by the way. And I'll see you in class on Tuesday.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, it did look sort of fun.

On the one hand all of my lecturers are assuming I'll go on to do a PhD, plus all my friends are doing it ;). On the other hand I don't know if I'm ready! so there's that.

I totally can't wait for class Tuesday, with which book do you think we're starting?

[aimeesworld.livejournal.com]

We start with Mahy. That's about all I know, but I am reading The Tricksters in anticipation. It feels very much like deja vu, as in, I am pretty sure I read it when I was too young to understand.

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

My personal position is that if you can do a PhD - and I think there's no doubt in anybody's mind, particularly your own, that you could - you should.

Yea, the funding process could be a difficult one. But OTOH, I think it might be one of those things you'd always wonder about if you didn't do it.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

You may well be right.

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

It's been known.

[china_shop]

I feel like someone who is 22 is someone who [...] at least knows what they're doing next year.

Heh. Well, I'm 38 and I'm not sure what I'm doing next month, so... But I don't know you well enough to give any kind of meaningful advice, anyway. :-)

Glad you're having a good trip. Hope the conference is fun and interesting.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, my next month is under control - actually I'm fine through till November. ;)

The conference was really super!

[jo-nzl.livejournal.com]

Ah, I am turning 22 on July 29th, and I don't have any direction either.... so you're not alone!

What would you be doing your PhD in? I think if that's the route you want to go, there's something to be said both for doing it early, and for waiting - in the former case, you maintain your disciplinary knowledge, your brain hasn't gone soft, etc; in the latter case, you come back hungry for higher education, rather than burnt out through never having done anything else. Personally, I plan to do an MA next year and hopefully get up the guts to flee overseas for a PhD the year after - but I do worry about the burnout factor.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Well, the burnout factor is why I'd ideally like to skip MA and go straight to PhD. And I definitely want to go overseas (another reason funding is a hell of a pain.) But I have all this uncertainty.

[duskshadows.livejournal.com]

it's a good thing you're sorting this out now, i had a meeting with my hons supervisor the other day, and mentioned how i want to do masters next year, and he was all "oh if you want me as a supervisor, which you will with your topic, you better get in now coz i only have room for one more student kthxbai" O_O so i pretty much had to decide there and then what i want to do next year, so he could talk to someone else about being my second supervisor. >.<'
i like the sound of the writing course! maybe it would be easier to get funding for phd after that?

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

meep, scary! Ideally I'd like to go somewhere overseas which would mean starting next September so time pressure is very slightly less (they haven't started this year yet), but, yeah, not MUCH less. Especially for funding.

[squaringkarma.livejournal.com]

Ooh you have the same birthday as summerkins though she's a year younger and I'm 3 days older than you.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Heh! July seems to be a very common month for birthdays, funny eh.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

This is a totally fwiw (after all, I only met you last week), but you've definitely got the chops for a PhD. I think I assumed from the quality of your paper that you were IN a PhD program already! And doesn't PhD funding usually look after itself? In Canada, at least, most schools won't accept students if they can't fund them...

And I'm not sure how valuable credentials are in the publishing world. Usually, some kind of graduate degree in English is the entry level, then you just have to make coffee for people until you break in.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

:) That's very complimentary, thank you! When I say "funding" I really mean "scholarships to get me overseas and into somewhere I could otherwise not afford to be" which is, um, a fairly big ask - I really can't work myself through a PhD.

Well, I have done some reading, and I think people generally say that you don't necessarily learn all that much but it's a good way to demonstrate that you're really interested in publishing. This course in particular offers a range of industry contacts as well as a placement programme at the end of the course, so it also seems like a good way to get that coffee-making job ;)

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

I would've liked to get involved in publishing, but I'm still not sure if it was because I loved my time in a bookstore and working around that sort of industry or just to try and sneak my stories into the publishing house...

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

I think if you're really loving the research you should go for masters or PhD, and if you're not you should go for something else. I don't think you'd have too much trouble getting funding, but unless you really want it now, you might as well take time off and enjoy having actual money.

I would love to hear all about the rest of France - did you do any exciting French things? Was Bristol interesting, aside from the conference? Tell!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I love the material. I'm not always loving doing the work - but I guess that's fairly typical.

I was only in France for a few days so I really didn't do much exciting! I ate a lot of French food and drank a lot of French wine and wandered around inner-city Bordeaux, which was really charming and exactly like the picture you have in your head of Europe with a capital E. All cobblestones and stone buildings and snooty French people.

I didn't really see any of Bristol but the conference was faaabulous! Paper, I didn't love it, but people said nice things, so it may have been OK. I really really enjoyed all the other papers I saw, though, it was really exciting from that perspective.

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

Do think about the work. You *really* don't want to get half-way through a PhD and burn out. That said, if you love the material, that's a pretty good sign.

That really got me about France - it was so, er, French. (I'm not sure what I was expecting it to be, but.)

I am sure the paper was faaaaabulous too! You must send me a copy.

[disturbed-kiwi.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming you didn;t have much time online, hence the packed-in nature of this entry? I found it tought to be sure what your optios were!

I'd say bite the bullet and aim for the PHD. Don't worry about what to do after that until you find out if you get it or not :D

[sapris0000003.livejournal.com]

I have no doubt that you can do a PhD, however doing something just because you can isn't highly recommended. Beyond that I agree with sixth_light's comments.

I enjoy cooking too much to ever do it as a job, and while my stomach might want you to become a chef, I think you are bound for greater things.