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[word_nerd]

I'm still very new to grad-school and have been marvelling at those moments when I realize I have been laughing hysterically with a group of people at things so nerdy that almost no one else I've met would understand, much less find them funny.

[promovenda]

It's great! I am  "non-traditional" PhD candidate, older, maybe even wiser. Biking to the archives in Historic European city, drinking good coffee and getting to fulfill my academic dreams - I feel tremendously blessed and thankful.

[stangoldsmith]

Nice post.  In my field (a major humanities discipline) there is too much griping in general (no job market, ta-ships that work you too hard, absent advisers, dumb students, nepotism, etc. etc. etc.) and I'm always amazed at it because I can't imagine a more perfect situation than what I'm doing.

Like others I was out of school for awhile and stood on various corporate balconies chit-chatting with colleagues about what they used to be interested in when they were undergrads, after that conversation was repeated (without progress) four or five times it would turn toward what sit-com or reality show was on last night or how our stock was looking or who was going to get laid off next.

Running into colleagues now involves things like "have you considered book X by this random philosopher that I've been reading" or trading teaching stories or tips on research and/or teaching or fellowships or some other such awesome topic.

The pay is about 1/8 of what I left behind in the offices and the work is about 100 times more but the payoff is immeasurable and I still can't believe that I "get" to do what I'm doing full time versus 20 minutes a week when I would pull down a book from the shelf at midnight before going to sleep.

I really don't understand the complaints and negativity from people in my field (and on this website as well) when the field and the rewards are so full of obvious riches.

[ksbruening]

I am a nontraditional MS student (I will be 37 soon), and life is pretty good.  It's only my third semester, but considering the call center I left behind just this past summer, and teaching middle and high school a couple of years ago, this feels like a dream!  I have been out of school for 8 years, and I am amazed at what I have been able to accomplish, and the possibilities opening up before me.  Everything is falling in place, right now; I just have to have the courage to throw it all together where it belongs, which is a little scary and very exhilarating!

[tee_bee]

Sorry for the interruption--I'm a senior professor now--but I remember grad school like it was yesterday. I started when I was 29 (I'm 49 now), at a university in my favorite city in the U.S. (which is also my home town) and I studied under and with some fabulous people. I am now plotting a reunion with these people. I remember walking home from the bus once thinking "life can't get any better than this." Well, it can, but it's a tough one to top. Yes, the pay was poor, no health insurance, etc., but grad school was among the best five years of my life, I miss it terribly, I knew it was a fleeting-even magical--time in my life, and I treasure every moment of it. I hope some of you do too! It's really a privilege to be part of a community of scholars, and I hope people do enjoy it. It shouldn't be hell!

Ok, I'll step out now. Thanks.