Comments on: How can you tell if you should leave academia?

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:24:14 +0000

@Lydia, wow, having your whole family in academia really would make things harder! My family is decidedly NOT academic, but my in-laws are, and there were some really interested conversations happening there! They’ve been very supportive, but yeah. Growing up in that family culture must have made things interesting!

@Maartje — Absolutely, I’ll send it along this afternoon, so check your email.

Both of you, thanks for the compliments!

By: Maartje

Maartje — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:36:50 +0000

I’m seconding Lydia on everything! Love your blog, your openness, and I’m also here through Havi. I’ve not left academia yet, though – I’m hoping to first finish my PhD, and after that, all bets are off!

I’ve a request, though: I didn’t know your blog until today, but is it possible to still get the recording of your ‘Struggling in Academia’ teleclass?

By: Lydia, Clueless Crafter

Lydia, Clueless Crafter — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:53:04 +0000

Wow, I had no idea there was a blog that would speak so candidly to the fears and frustrations I have had by moving away from academia. Havi always brings us to each other, though;-)

I, too, decided to move away from that world and into a more business oriented world where my passion for art history could be fused with my interest in marketing. So, I didn’t go to the PhD program in art history; rather, I moved to New York City to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology for an MA in the Art Market program.

I’m forging my own path now through free lance writing and my blog. I made the right choice, but it wasn’t easy leaving academia when one’s whole family is entrenched in it!

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:55:03 +0000

I’m glad it was helpful! A friend of mine in graduate school set her sights on — and got — a position at a branch campus of a big state system, and last I heard was still loving it. Sounds like you’d like something similar — good luck! And congrats on knowing what you want. That’s half the battle right there.

By: Mel

Mel — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:45:17 +0000

Thanks so much for posting this. I am about to take my Ph.D. exams, and have been frustrated with academia for about a year… although this is the only thing I ever wanted to do. This article really helped remind me that it’s mainly the type of institution I am at right now that is frustrating me (we’re a tier one research university, and I am very teaching oriented). You give me hope, even as a smite smite smite the horrid bureaucracy of academia and hope to find a small, hopefully public, teaching-based university when it’s time for me to get a job.