If you truly are the type of person who wants to do research, plus you don’t mind hard work, find a high-quality PhD program in communication and apply!

The Bronxite Selah

In any case, I guess the question is whether it makes any kind of economic sense to pay for three more years of school just to possibly tread water as an adjunct. You’re right, the Ph.D. isn’t going to make you magically more attractive as a candidate for TT jobs–all of those ABDs you are now competing with are gunning for the same positions.

I suppose the exception here might be if you decided to take things in a completely new direction and seek further work at a tangent to what you do now. No, I don’t know what that means: content strategy for the web? Science writing? Technical writing? I don’t know. But if it’s far enough from what you are doing now, and is an up-and-coming area, then maybe the Ph.D. makes sense? It’s a big gamble, though, both in terms of ultimate job prospects and three years of opportunity costs.

I will continue to say what I said above: don’t pay for the doctoral program. If you can get funding from the school or from an outside fellowship, that’s another story. If you can’t, not only are you accumulating debt that is basically sunk, you are also competing against the folks who did get fellowships and will use them as leverage in the marketplace after.

Beyond this, depending on where you are geographically, it may be possible to make more as a high school teacher than as a college adjunct. And good writers are in demand in the corporate world, as long as you can market yourself well.

I’m in the bind — in more ways than one — of being someone with 10 years of experience as an adjunct (business wriitng, journalism and lately, academic English) who was just informed my contact will not be renewed at a state college next semester. They opted to give the position to an ABD nearing a PhD in “writing.” Other ABDs were hired this semester, apparently endangering us M.A.s in the department. The competition is fierce now even at the community colleges — hundreds of applicants for a few openings, and PhDs get better consideration.

I looked into getting a doctorate myself, but as someone out of school for many years, I did poorly on the GRE (just under 1,000, thanks to a low math score, but I got a 5 out of 6 on the writing part). I imagine that won’t get me past the first level of admission in most programs. I have published several books, many articles, have a list of journalism-related awards and I’m a former Fulbright scholar. The worst part is I’m in my mid-50s, and a single dad with a young daughter. Also, and don’t take this wrong, I am Caucasian. At this point, I’m headed for the dole, (as is my former office mate who also did not make it).

One program I found claimed that I could have a PhD in communications in as little as 2.5 years if my communications M.A. and other college courses transfer. I’m an excellent researcher and writer. I figure I still have at least 10 productive years left. Might it be worthwhile to puruse the doctorate? Is it a gamble to borrow for the tuition, but at least have a better shot at a teaching spot, even as an ABD? I do not expect to ever have a tenured job.

Or, is there a second act for washed-up adjuncts? Thanks.

Fantastic post, and I am glad to see that you are still responding to people who stumble upon it like me. I am currently developing my “go back to school in 2013″ plan and your post here has been very informative.

My plan basically revolves around maximizing both private sector employment and academic employment options upon graduation, this basically translates to applying to a few top-20 MBA programs, and also some highly regarded Communication MA programs – the thinking being that at the conclusion of either path, I could always go back and get the other option if I feel the need. Call me a pessimistic late twenty-something, but I feel the job market – even for MBAs – is rotten, and I do not plan on it getting much better soon, if ever in the USA.

Despite this plan I have developed, there is still one aspect of a Ph.D that is tempting me: more and more academics I am talking to have identified college teaching as a growth industry over the next twenty years due to a disproportionate number of soon-to-retire baby boomers in the profession. Not everyone shares this opinion however, I was curious as to how you feel about this?

By the way some background – I graduated from a highly regarded Organization Communication BS program with a 3.8 GPA and a final research paper that was good enough to maybe publish in some smaller journal had I cared to deal with all the review and letting some PhD put their name on the top! Over 6 years as a young professional post-college, however, I have been unlucky in climbing up the organizational ladder and have found myself (I feel) needing more education and more options going forwards. Thanks again for this great post.

If financial stability/wealth tops that list, the PhD is probably the wrong route. I can understand the desire to “wait out” the current recession in an MBA program, but it’s not clear to me that an MBA always pays off, given the expense. I suspect that the $40K (at a minimum) you would end up spending on an MBA would be better spent starting your own business. Given your language abilities and training, I would look for freelance work while continuing your job search.

That said, the primary advantage an MBA would probably bring is a set of contacts that can lead to opening doors. Particularly if you are able to enter an elite MBA program, that may serve as an expensive, but viable, path into a business career.

I am a new immigrant to the United States. I recently graduated from M.A in Professional and Business Communication program in the United States. I got my Bachelor’s degree from post-Soviet state and I have 3-4 years of international experience at broadcasting organization. I can speak 4 languages including Russian.

Recently, I quit my job and now I am at the crossroad. I have three options: 1) MBA, 2) PhD in Communication or 3) look for another job. Given the unemployment figures for the time being, which of the above would you suggest so that I can live good life in the future.

I completed my masters program with flying colors, graduating with a 3.9. It was, however, a “professional” program that offered (but didn’t encourage) a thesis; being young and stupid, I didn’t do one. I have taken the GRE, and did mediocre, at best (1150).

I am wondering if it would be worth my time and effort to apply to a PhD program, with these limiting factors. As I mentioned, I found when I was nearing the completion of my MS that I really love research; I just hadn’t gotten enough of a chance to do a lot of it until that point to find out sooner. I had always thought teaching would be a suitable match, but had planned on doing it after I was a bit older.

In any case, I am passionate about my topic of interest, and would be thrilled to research it in depth. If it would be ill-advised to pursue a PhD right now, do you have recommendations for making myself a more appealing candidate, in the future? I’m only 24; I can’t give up yet. Thanks in advance.

I think your syllabi always set an extremely high standard, regardless of the grade.

Standards are what counts.

Yet I and my classmates I know have been fairly obsessed about grades. For me, I have always been that way. I remember, however, my first course with you, on your book Search Engine Society, and I believe you didn’t grade us until the end. That worked fine for me and I felt very engaged and looking to the interaction with you and other students to gauge and reveal whether I was meeting prescribed standards and learning new things.

I will note that I was amazed that many of my classmates over the past two years seemed to find typos and poor sentence construction and weakly formed ideas acceptable. I don’t know their grades or care to know but I worry about the literacy of the latest and future generations. Grad school should require some minimum standards just for entry. Or so I thought.

I don’t like the competitive aspects of curving, but I also think the idea that most grades judged by a rubric are uncurved is a bit misleading. Take the rubric above. I presume that if it were applied to the average Harvard undergrad class you might have just as many As as for the average Quinnipiac undergrad class, and perhaps as many As in a grad class and in a middle school class. Does that mean that if you shuffled the QU papers and the Harvard papers they would describe roughly the same curve? I honestly hope not. I hold out hope that while writing standards have deteriorated generally, not everyone writes as poorly as our undergrads do.

And really, I expect the paper that elicits joy in you is not automatically the same paper that brings a smile to my face. Pity the student who has to guess at my amusements. Or, since the antecedent is always true, just pity my students. I recognize that cynosures are not always shared, and that an A (or any other grade) requires expert judgment, but it’s important to note that the rubric does apply a curve; namely: things that make the instructor happy do better.

But more broadly, if applying the same rubric to the same paper can result in an A in Miss Daisy’s sixth grade English class and a B- in a Harvard undergrad writing course (grade inflation runs rampant) then I think there is a curve, you’re just not making it explicit!

Here are my standards, plagiarized from the Lewis and Clark College history department (where I taught for a while) and the Harvard Core:

Guide to Effective Revision:
Important Questions to Ask While Revising and Before Handing in a Paper:
Before handing in your paper, you should ask yourself these questions:
1. Thesis. What point am I trying to make about the topic? Is the argument clear and
focused? How persuasive is the thesis? Is it original, provocative, exciting?
2. Evidence. Do I use examples and quotations effectively? Do I have enough evidence
to prove my main points? Do I sufficiently explain the connection between the evidence
and those points?
3. Organization. Is the paper logically consistent throughout? Does the essay have a
clearly defined introduction, body, and conclusion? Does each paragraph have a topic
sentence that summarizes its main idea? Does each paragraph flow logically from the
previous one?
4. Conclusion. Is the conclusion consistent with the evidence? Does it build on and
move beyond the thesis statement? Does it suggest the larger significance of the paper?
5. Mechanics. Have I thoroughly proofread the paper for mistakes in spelling,
capitalization, and punctuation? Do I need to check once more for errors in grammar
and sentence structure?
6. Style. How smoothly does the paper flow? How lively and vivid is the prose? Have I
carefully crafted every paragraph of this essay in order to clarify my ideas?
7. Citation of Sources. Do I give full citations for every source that I use? Does this hold
true not only for direct quotations, but also for paraphrased passages and examples
from the texts? Have I provided enough information so that the reader can easily locate
each source to which I reference?
Grading Standards
The following descriptions should give you some sense of how I will grade your papers:

The A paper:
The A paper successfully addresses all of the questions in the “Guide to Effective
Revision.” It is lively, original, and thought-provoking. The paper is a joy to read and
reveals a mind deeply engaged in the subject at hand. One is convinced that the writer
cares for his or her ideas, as well as for the language and forms that convey these ideas.

The B paper:
The B paper, too, successfully addresses all of the questions in the “Guide to Effective
Revision.” It is always mechanically correct. The spelling is good and the punctuation is
accurate. Above all, the paper makes sense throughout. It has a thesis that is focused and
worth arguing. It does not contain unexpected digressions and proves the argument
established in the introduction. The reader of a B paper knows exactly what the author
wants to say. The paper is well organized and presents a worthwhile and interesting
idea. This idea is supported by sound evidence presented in a neat and orderly way in
accordance with recognized conventions for citing evidence. Some of the sentences may
be unwieldy now and then, but they are organized around one main idea. The reader
does not have to read a paragraph two or three times to get the thought that the writer is
trying to convey.

The C paper:
The C paper has a thesis, but it is vague or too broad, or else it is uninteresting and
obvious. It does not advance an argument that anyone might care to debate: for
example, “Thomas Jefferson wrote some interesting letters.” The thesis in the C paper
frequently hangs on some personal opinion. Opinion is often the engine that drives an
argument, but opinion by itself is never sufficient. The writer must defend an opinion in
a persuasive fashion. This requires marshalling textual proof, but the C paper rarely uses
evidence well; sometimes it does not use evidence at all. Even if it has a clear and
interesting thesis, a paper with insufficient supporting evidence is a C paper. The C
paper often has mechanical faults and errors in grammar and spelling. Please note that a
paper without such faults may still be a C paper. A paper with such faults, however, will
never be more than a C paper.

The unsatisfactory paper:
The D or F paper is filled with mechanical faults, errors in grammar, and spelling
mistakes. The paragraphs do not hold together; ideas do not develop from sentence to
sentence. This paper usually repeats the same thoughts again and again, perhaps in
slightly different language but often in the same words. The D or F paper either has no
thesis or else it has one that is strikingly vague, broad, or uninteresting. There is little
indication that the writer understands the