Graduate Students Anonymous

Over the past few weeks I've had the same conversation with friends in graduate school in the states and fellow classmates.  It usually starts with some offhand remark about an upcoming deadline.  What ensues is what can only be called a "therapy session"?  Life as a grad student is hard... not the least because you think about it constantly.  In fact a friend of mine in my MA said just that.  We were talking about how easy our working experience was prior to entering this program.  "You can leave work at the end of the day and choose to not think about it again until its time to go back to the office, but I feel guilty anytime I spend time away from my course work.  I feel like I should be thinking about it 24/7."  For proof (oh my gosh... I'm totally lapsing into paper mode already) I found this article about how the subject of graduate studies is never one as yet relatively excluded from popular fiction.  I'll add the reference at the end of this post in case any of you out their want to read more.  Consider it an appendix, acknowledgement, or bibliography. [smile]

My proposal is to start Graduate Students Anonymous.  I mean we kinda do it already, but wouldn't it be fun to actually have a fun name for the support we provide each other.  Venting and forgiving oneself for not thinking about graduate studies all day is the only cure what ails us.  Join the movement.  

Hi.  My name is Margaret and I'm a graduate student!

Just, Margaret

Newman, Kathy M.  Poor, Hungry, and Desperate?  Or Privileged, Histrionic, and Demanding?  In Search of the True Meaning of "Ph.D." from Social Text (Winter 1996) pp. 97-131.  Accessible on JStore.