Thoughts on Graduate School

Graduate school is the tiniest bubble you will ever inhabit.

It sucks the humanness out of you. Are you a person will wide-ranging interests? Do you value close friendships? Enjoy having money to purchase food? Love your weekends and evenings? Then graduate school is not for you.

I am being dramatic. It would be a lie to claim that I have sacrificed everything for grad school. I still go out to eat, go to the movies, talk on the phone, laugh with friends, watch TV, and occasionally visit the local bar. I celebrate holidays and birthdays. I sleep in on Saturdays. It's just that the rest of my time is dedicated solely to my future career. It's a race to the finish line. My life is not about right now, it's about preparing for later.

On the plus side, I have learned a secret language of psychological buzzwords, enabling me to communicate to fellow graduate students in code.

Absolutely the only thing keeping me going is the privilege of working with clients. 75% of the time, I inhabit a world of psychobabble and arbitrary deadlines and meaningless busywork. The other 25% of my time, thankfully, is spent with kids who say exactly what they mean and proudly give the middle finger to a society that has mostly abandoned them.

The somewhat ridiculous song and dance of grad school is worth it if I get to do the work I really believe in.