More Musings on Graduate School
Friday, June 2nd, 2006If there’s one thing my current job has taught me, it’s that I really do want to go back to grad school. And it’s not because school is fun and full-time work sucks, but rather that school made me happy and the corporate world makes me unhappy. I’ve had the same revelation that Brinestone had when she realized that she wasn’t cut out to be a teacher: even if I were doing really well at my job, I don’t think I’d enjoy it.
I faced this problem every summer when school ended and my job went to full-time. I enjoy editing and I do very well at it, but editing for forty hours a week makes me want to stab my eyes out sometimes. I realize that work isn’t supposed to be fun, but I think it should still be fulfilling in some way; however, even during those periods of full-time work when I’ve enjoyed my work the most, I’ve felt like a large part of my brain was atrophying.
You see, even though I find a certain amount of pleasure in storing half of The Chicago Manual of Style in my head and pulling it out at will, I find a lot more pleasure in more scholarly or creative pursuits. I used to think it was weird and nerdy when my older brother would come home from his computer tech support job and do calculus to unwind. Then I found myself coming home from my editing job and reading up on Indo-European linguistics to unwind, and suddenly it seemed less weird and nerdy than it had before.
So I think I’ve mostly made up my mind. Now I just need to figure out (1) where I want to go, (2) what exactly I want to pursue, (3) whether I want to get a certificate in something like scholarly publishing just in case I want to go back into editing after all, and (4) how on earth I’m going to pay for the whole ordeal.
Advice is welcome.
