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"Memories"
01/03/2003 Entry
I was catching up with my friend Matt today (who's kind enough to return to Princesstown on occasion while enjoying his time at Hahvad) and we got on the topic of time-to-degree. Princeton's Graduate School is quite strict about getting people out of here quickly and so we usually average fewer years in getting the PhD than students at peer institutions. We were pondering the implications of this for getting academic jobs now that the social sciences seem to be moving in the direction of the natural sciences in that they require more and more (or better and better) publications often unrealistic for anyone with only five or six years of graduate education. The problem is that the social sciences are not on a par with the natural sciences in the availability of postdocs so numerous good, smart, and extremely qualified people are left without jobs.
In any case, all this led me to thinking about Generals, the comprehensive exams every graduate student must pass at Princeton to become eligible for writing a dissertation. I realized that it was exactly three years ago that I spent eight grueling hours in our former grad student computer lab thinking, pacing and writing about three areas of sociology: Communications, Economic Sociology and Social Networks. I'm still happy I picked those three areas, they were fun (although I don't think that was the word running through my mind three years ago today). I still have my reading lists up in case you are interested in what kept me company on New Year's Eve, 1999.
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your friend matt is interesting. i applied to 2 poli sci depts hoping i could squeeze some ITish stuff in there, it's nice to see that it's possible ;)
Posted by elaine @ 01/04/2003 07:39 PM CST
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