So you chose grad school...?

As two people who have always found school difficult. Always studied and spent hours trying to read an article because we could not focus long enough to get through it… we both decided grad school was the best option! O_o

After earning Bachelor degrees from KU we said “why not do it again, but this time across the world” thus we ended up in Malta for graduate school.

Now it was a lot different than expected, unlike most programs we were in class 5 times a week anywhere from 4 to 8 hours a day. Burnout was real-- we were constantly questioning what was the purpose of producing so much work and research that would end up in a filing cabinet, skimmed, and forgotten. Most of our teachers were there as a side gig with their attention unfavorably divided among their fulltime jobs and research and their 2 weeks in Malta.

So, is grad school worth it? The short answer… it depends.

Alex and I fell in love with learning from a very young age. Despite school being difficult we craved new information and consumed everything from the seemingly unimportant. like reality TV shows, to the more traditional education, like post-secondary school. Our eyes were opened to a whole new field and way of processing. Conflict Resolution manages to mix a hands-off, "diplomatic" approach with the slogan “human rights for all”. Which lead to mixed feelings about the field and the program.

There were times when we would leave class defeated as professors held their academic standing over any student that challenged their perception of the world. But many of us knew what we stood for was important and some of the professors were letting their academic privilege overrule every other belief they could have.

What we need to change -- stop pretending academics are beyond the realm of repercussion and are somehow detached from the greater social structure. So many days Alex and I left with foul tastes in our mouths as we took real-life horrors that were turned into examples on a paper. They tried to teach us to respond like robots turning every scenario or presentation into a competition: who could solve the problem or finish first?

Particularly in social sciences, social work, or any field that focuses on the humanity of people you need to be light-hearted sometimes or you can’t keep going. However, when the constant response turns humans into numbers and policies, or when the response turns into “lets f*** everyone else and win”. What does that mean when we move into the real world as a cohort and when our professors’ academic bubbles are burst.

If you can make it through the rough patches and find meaning in what you’re doing, if you love what you are learning and want to use that to better the spaces around you, grad school is worth it.

But, if you show up to better resume, to put letters behind your name, to hold your education above everyone around you, to act like you’re “above the problem” that you are “the solution”... get over yourself and don’t go to grad school.

So what’s next--

we are writing theses (ask us about our topics ;D) and each trying to get a foot in the door to some sort of future where we not only are having fun but bettering the world around us.

Xoxo,

No one knows what the future holds

May 2018 undergrad commencement, Memorial Stadium at KU

PS

If anyone has any job leads... we aren't like asking but aren't like opposed to any suggestions... but do whatever you want too