June 6, 2003

So You Want to Go to Grad School?

By THOMAS H. BENTON

The best piece of advice you can give an undergraduate who wants to pursue a Ph.D. in the humanities is, don't

"Don't go to graduate school."

"But ... I burn with an intense, gemlike flame for Victorian poetry."

"Don't go."

"But ... I'm sure I'd love teaching."

"Why are you really considering graduate school?"

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I majored in English, and I can't find a job. At least not one that pays anything or has health benefits. I'm

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