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Alicorn comments on Open Thread: February 2010 - Less Wrong
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In a nutshell: The environment is unsupportive and draining. The only teacher I "click" with is in a sub-field of study that I have next to no interest in, and even if I wanted to go study his topic to get to work with him, he's leaving at the end of this semester. Meanwhile, the teachers who work on the subjects I like whom I've completed courses with seem to actively dislike me. I don't think I'm a good fit for the department in general, which is uncomfortably political and stern, and trying to transfer would be hard because, having stuck it out this long, I've collected some less than admirable grades.
It sounds like you should try to transfer anyway.
I was surprised to read your comment above; I had always gotten the impression that you enjoyed what you were doing. (I also liked the idea that one of LW's top contributors was a philosophy grad student; it helps to counteract a slight tendency toward rivalry that I detect between "LW types" and academic philosophers.)
How about attempting to get in touch with people you think you would get along with elsewhere, and seeing if you can impress them?
I try to cultivate a cheerful attitude, which often projects. It failed me this semester, so I'm abandoning ship. You'll need to rely on thomblake for your philosophy grad student needs.
I might or might not try to resume my studies at a later date, but for now, I'm going to spend a month at the SIAI and see if they want to keep me :)
Wow. I keep forgetting PhD students over there do actual coursework. research only over here. Apart from that little difference I can empathize somewhat with graduate programs becoming draining, particularly when the process becomes predominately political.
It varies not only from country to country, but even just department to department. Different fields have different expectations for what a PhD (and Master's!) means.