Re: advice re university

Doug Ball wrote:
>
> > Roger wrote, among other things:
> > Hope this helps. And I trust others who are little closer to modern times
> > will comment-- the Matts Pearson & McLauchlin, Dirk, the man at Cornell*
> > whose name I can't locate just now........   Keep the faith. Roger Mills
> >
> > *I think I meant Rochester-- Sally Caves' student.  The "man" at Cornell is
> > obviously Yoon Ha Lee.
> >
>
> This person in Rochester would be me, although I'm not sure how helpful I
> can be considering I'm only a sophomore.  In truth, when I saw Robert's
> message, I thought "Ooh, maybe I'll get some advice, too,"  since I, from
> time to time, ponder the Future.
>
You're farther ahead than I am, so you know more than I do, putting you
in an advice giving situation.

> But, ironically I was talking with my undergraduate adviser yesterday about
> grad school, careers, the like ("the Future").  I learned some interesting
> tidbits--that he felt there was a weeding out process after graduate school,
> i.e. that people go through grad school, get there Ph. Ds, then try to get
> on at some (or various) universities, don't, and give up.  Also according to
> my adviser, linguistics really expanded in the 80s, and now there are fewer
> jobs open, since there are a lot that are filled by people with tenure who
> aren't going away anytime soon.
>
That's important to know, but I don't give up none.

> But lest that be too discouraging, the advice that I got from my adviser
> (and from other people here at the University of Rochester) is to find
> something you really love and go with it.  It will either lead you on your
> chosen path or to a path that is equally as acceptable, and perhaps more
> interesting.  This bit of advice sometimes is a downer to me, since I start
> questioning whether I really have found an area that I truly love, but then
> I need to remember that all the various things that I discovered upon going
> to college.  One would be this list--I had no idea it existed until Sally
> pointed me to it.  College, thus far, certainly hasn't exactly been what I
> expected it to be, but it has been a path that is "equally as acceptable"
> and definitely "more interesting" that I figured it would be, and most of it
> I found by just pursuing my interests.  Life, of course, isn't quite as
> simple as that sentence would have you believe, but it is a way of dealing
> with the difficulties which lie ahead.
>
Now that's what I call advice!

Thanks. Y'see, you do have useful advice to give.

--
Robert