feuervogel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feuervogel) wrote2013-01-16 11:14 am
feuervogel) wrote2013-01-16 11:14 am
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More thoughts
I could take a couple classes at UNC (though not this semester, since it's too late for that).
I could get a second bachelor's and transfer all my general education stuff. I don't know how my existing courses would transfer, or how I'd fit into the requirements. (I think option 2 is the one I prefer? Since I'm interested less in the literary stuff than in history and non-lit culture?)
I could apply to a different program entirely? Various people have suggested Comp Lit, which, well, I don't really want to compare two literatures. Though I like the idea of queer/feminist studies.
But what would I *do* with that? I think I want to teach German as a foreign language. I've taught before, but not full time on my own. I did a rotation on my residency where I taught pharmacokinetics (I was pissed about that; it's my worst subject). I made lesson plans, gave homework, lectured, and gave tests. Yay. I've also done patient and peer education, which is a bit different, since you just give a seminar on a topic.
I need advice. From someone involved in the field. Who can tell me whether a research-oriented PhD is overqualifying. Who can tell me what types of jobs I can get (other than academia) with a PhD.
Uncertainty is very stressful for me. I do not like this.
I could get a second bachelor's and transfer all my general education stuff. I don't know how my existing courses would transfer, or how I'd fit into the requirements. (I think option 2 is the one I prefer? Since I'm interested less in the literary stuff than in history and non-lit culture?)
I could apply to a different program entirely? Various people have suggested Comp Lit, which, well, I don't really want to compare two literatures. Though I like the idea of queer/feminist studies.
But what would I *do* with that? I think I want to teach German as a foreign language. I've taught before, but not full time on my own. I did a rotation on my residency where I taught pharmacokinetics (I was pissed about that; it's my worst subject). I made lesson plans, gave homework, lectured, and gave tests. Yay. I've also done patient and peer education, which is a bit different, since you just give a seminar on a topic.
I need advice. From someone involved in the field. Who can tell me whether a research-oriented PhD is overqualifying. Who can tell me what types of jobs I can get (other than academia) with a PhD.
Uncertainty is very stressful for me. I do not like this.
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Of course, that may depend a bit on whose Comp Lit department you join. What's true at UMass isn't necessarily true everywhere. :)
Also, I was recently linked to an article about alternative academic careers, which may be interesting for you: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/01/14/essay-preparing-academic-or-alt-ac-careers
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I think one of the reasons I'm hesitant to consider Comp Lit is that I'm not really a lit-analysis person. Which is why the German Studies PhD is also kind of ehhh, because there's such a literary focus. I kind of want to do non-literary culture like history and sociology, or just get a credential to teach adults. (Private schools, community colleges, whatever.) I wish I were more interested in film and music, because there's probably an interesting thesis in the changing TV/film or music landscapes in Germany.
Or since I'm a giant football nerd, tracing the history of Turkish Germans in the DFB, from Mehmet Scholl to Mesut Özil (and the future), looking at smaller clubs and youth clubs, which are the breeding ground for future pros, and maybe fan culture and how fans accept (or not) Turkish players.
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UMass has a MAT (masters in teaching) program in Latin, which is very language-focused. Does anywhere have something like that for German?
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All the US-based programs I'm looking at include instruction in the curriculum. None of them have a specifically teaching-focused course, but they all emphasize methods of pedagogy.
The German-based programs I'm looking at are all German-as-foreign-language programs, but German universities have more stringent curricula and admission requirements, which zombie said I should just write them and ask about, explain my situation and ask what I need to do to fulfill the requirements, and he'd even proofread whatever I came up with.
But that involves selling the house and moving, which is a HUGE risk, and I've always been very risk-averse. (Our HOA covenant doesn't allow us to rent out our house. Ben says if that becomes relevant, he'd rather petition the board to make an exception (they don't want, basically, slum lords) than straight up sell the house. We'll see.)
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Have you checked to see whether you are qualified to teach German *right now*? Would you be willing to teach at high-school level while levelling up your qualifications? (Granted there is less call for German than for the more popular of the Romance languages.)
Also consider that even if you think yourself weak or short of a requirement or two, universities are looking at the big picture and if you're superstrong in the more relevant areas they might very well take you anyway (and your German creds look superstrong to me). You could just *apply* exactly where you want to go and see what happens.
Have you emailed any possible contacts at your preferred schools for advice? Forgive me if you've already answered these questions here or elsewhere, I've been in-it and out-of-it, so to speak, intermittently in the past few months.
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UNC only requires 2 foreign languages, one of which is "mastery" level, the other is "proficient." They don't say either has to be a classic language on the website. But since comparing literatures isn't really what I want to do... (Though the German prof I want to work with did her degrees in comp lit.) I'd have to gain reading proficiency in a third language for a German PhD (at UNC or pretty much anywhere), and I'm thinking Turkish for that, since I want to look at Turkish-German culture and want to learn Turkish anyway.
There are only 2 high schools in the area that even offer German, and they're both full up. I don't have any educational credentials, and I really don't want to teach in high schools, not in this state or this country, even. (NC is especially shitty for teachers.) I'm toying with the idea of applying to teach ESL at Berlitz in Raleigh :P Or I could volunteer with the local literacy council.
I'm planning to email the admission counselor at UNC this week to see if I can discuss how to make my application strong, and maybe find out if they have info on where recent grads are working. Ideally, I can make an on-campus appointment, and I can schedule a department visit that same day.
If I can find the right wording (so I don't sound like a fool), I might email the professor I want to work with. Say "hi, I'm considering applying for the PhD program, and your research areas are interesting to me. I'm not sure what kind of jobs, outside of academia, would be available with a PhD. Can you give me advice, or direct me to someone who can? Google isn't helping me out."
In comments on an earlier post,
I'm considering writing to the departmental advising people at Georgetown, UMD, and maybe Amherst, to see if my background meets their criteria and ask if MA candidates get funding. Georgetown does allow for a terminal MA, and I think UMD and UMA do, too. I could get an MA in German (assuming I meet their admission criteria) and consider applying for a PhD after that, either back at UNC or continuing there.
One of the things I talked with Ben about last night was what would happen if I got into the MA program at Gtown. He'd stay here, and I'd take one or two of the cats. It's 2 years, after all, and DC's only ~5 hours, barring obscene traffic, from here. It's also obscenely expensive to live.
(Basically, if I get no funding, I'm not doing this. I could do 1 year of no funding at UNC, if 1st-year students don't get TAships, but not more than that. And Gtown or the out of state schools are out of the question without funding.)
Germany would be another matter altogether. I'd hate to uproot, sell the house, all that, and fail. Or have to come back because I can't get a job there.
What I really want to do is live in Germany and write, and do something so I can get a visa and pay rent. Teaching at a German community college or private language school would do that. But getting a visa to teach German in Germany when there are tons of qualified Germans...
I don't know what to do. I hate not knowing what to do. It's stressful.
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(Also you should be blaming Angeli AT LEAST as much as me, I meant to say!!! Harrumph!)
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I'm sorry to be so quiet on this discussion; I *am* reading it and I feel for your uncertainty, but as I don't have anything beyond my BA, I'm pretty much useless on giving meaningful suggestions on steps forward. I can commiserate on the "don't know how to get where I want to be" state of mind, though.
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(It boils down to "I need to ask the right people questions, but I need to figure out what questions to ask so I sound intelligent.")
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I also don't know if this thesis hasn't already been done. I tried googling for lists of German studies PhD theses and eventually found Duke's archive of them, and UMass has a link straight from the departmental website. Other schools make it hard to find... If I had access to the library's journal search, I could see what scholarship already exists on the subject. (I need to go in and get a borrower's card...)
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SEVENTEEN. THOUSAND?
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http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/s/14023/Martin%20William+SWALES.aspx
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