I have thought a lot over break about what I will be doing the coming year. While I have planned my life to be attending graduate school immediately after I graduate, I do not think this is the best choice for me anymore.
I know I’d get into most schools. But, I don’t know that I would be happy in them. I can only point out something obvious before I just give up. (How many times have I heard people brag about the accessibility of virtual worlds? I guess only wheelchair users are disabled.)
Getting into a school of choice doesn’t mean it’s where one belongs. Before entering computer science, I had been accepted into a top advertising department. While I liked my courses and profs, I didn’t belong there. Many of my peers did not relate to me. I don’t know if the stark contrast between my peers and my profs was from a maturity gap or what. Either way, it didn’t make me happy.
… I have gotten disgusted by academia’s insistence that I prove I’m worthy of something without doing the same for me. They brag about papers and research, but never say what I get in return for joining them. Big deal if I get my name on publications; this assumes I don’t earn it. I get a degree that I earned. Yet, the university gets cheap research and teaching labor. While there is the employer-employee format, there is a lack of the cross-interview portion.
In industry, I don’t know whether I will be happy either. Being a code monkey is a frightening prospect. But,I don’t want to believe that a company wouldn’t want to fully utilize it’s workforce. Would be a rather ignorant and inefficient format.
Tags: Goal, grad school, Industry, Work
