- Most undergrads simply would accept any job to start paying off already massive debts, regardless of how irrelevant the job is to their field of study.

- A fair number of the graduate students consist the very undergraduates who had little hope of getting a decent job with their undergraduate degree.

- Little focus on multidisciplinary development programs on campuses leaves many graduates highly specialized and unaware of potential opportunities in related fields.

- There is little to no incentive for student to independently pursue entrepreneurial initiatives in social development, start-ups, public policy or innovation and technology at the start up level. This leaves highly ambitious and skilled graduates at the mercy of corporates whose primary objectives of making more money often disregards many core values these students are thought in schools for almost two decades.

I just finished the third year of my undergraduate degree. I am planning on applying to law school next year, and am somewhat concerned about asking my professors for reference letters in September. I was advised to approach professors who gave me an “A” in their class.

Considering I found out which classes I got an “A” in after the school year ended, I was wondering if it would be at all appropriate to e-mail a couple of professors now, rather than waiting until September. I’ve heard that most professors will only write one or two letters each year and I do not want to miss my opportunity by asking too late.

If you can provide me with some advice in regards to this situation, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank-you,

Andria

I don’t believe that the number of comments on any particular blog should be of concern as I think that is growth happening for all of us that read this blog! I know it’s helped me… although sometimes I didn’t always agree (jobs outside the academy aren’t all they’re cracked up to be!).

It’s a shame that you won’t continue to provide insight and knowledge!!

Angela

We have launched a University Affairs Facebook page. Check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/University-Affairs-Affaires-universitaires/357112594787

But I don’t think a Chronicle comparison is valid here, especially if we assume their readership is about ten times that of University Affairs, and they are able to put up lots of new content every day and by many different contributors. That’s what creates their lively commenting culture – not American brashness.

All the best.

All the best with your dissertation. I’m gonna get back to mine (hmmm…thinking about it now…maybe I’ll comment more when my diss is done!)

Best of luck

As someone who moved from academia to the non-profit world, I now feel guilty about not contributing some observations about my very successful transition.

Best of luck!

Why not suggest people take time in the year to find ways to expedite completion of their degree (i.e. shorter dissertations, focussed research questions, etc)? The faster one finishes the faster they can get on the market or move into a more promising non-university career track. For those 2/3 of grads who never land TT jobs, taking extra time to finish a degree that leads nowhere really is time wasted.

It is also a good idea to actively foster a relationship with professors you would consider asking for letters of support by attending their office hours and discussing your research questions and plans with them It doesn’t need to take alot of time, and most profs are delighted to speak with serious students.

Your profs can also be excellent sources of information about good schools in your field and may even be able to provide introductions to colleagues at prospective schools for you to contact and beging ‘conversing’ with online prior to submitting an application. This will increase your chances of finding a program that is a good fit for your research interests. It can also increase your chances of getting into a program if you can show that you have shared research interests with their faculty.

If you are serious about applying to a PhD program, it is very important that you make the time to develop relationships with faculty – make it a priority!

Hello! I am a student in my second year of master degree. I’d like to ask about who to be invited as referee.

As my master degree is a part-time one, most of us only get evening classes once or twice a week. We have different professors for different courses, and some courses even get two professors to share the whole course. As a result, the time of interaction between professors and individual student is very limited. And some classes are very large comprising of more than 50 students, so the professors may not even have chance to recognize any individual student.

So, I’d very much like to ask, in such a case, it is very difficult for me to find a suitable referee to invite. Then, what shall I do?

Thank you for your kind attention.

This point was raised in a recent article in The Chronicle http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Recommendation-Letters/20860/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Your idea of the impact the opinions of referees has and at what point they should be introduced into the process is an interesting one. I can see how it might streamline the process for committees, but would it be as beneficial for the applicants I wonder.

Also, a bigger issue for many is how to get reference letters at all. Some faculty will get 5-10 requests for letters from students applying for the same job. I know some faculty who have a policy of writing 2 letters max for any given job. This usually means they will only write letters for their own supervised PhD students and everyone else is SOL. On the other hand, other faculty will write an unlimited number of letters, which can have the effect of watering down the value for all.

I would like to see universities adopt a more standardized and fair way of getting references – one that reflects the reality that many jobs receive well over a hundred applicants, all of whom have to get letters from the same small cadre of faculty. I think it’d be better if contacts for three references would have to be listed on your CV – these would only by contacted after a shortlist has been created.

Talking about career options (basically anything other than a professor position) is like talking about failing. Career is a dirty word in academia because the reality is a dirty secret.