academic writing Archives - Consultants' Corner

Is A Life in Academia for You? Here are 25 Reasons Why…

A vibrant and picturesque university campus in the fall, featuring ivy-covered buildings, students studying on the grass, professors in tweed jackets engaging in conversation, and a mix of old and modern architecture. — Academic Life… it’s great work if you can get it

Some people perhaps thought my last post on academic life was too negative, so I want to provide some balance to people who feel passionately that they want to pursue a PhD but are also feeling a bit scared. Academia can be wonderful… or it can be hell. Knowing whether you’re cut out for it first is crucial. From bucolic afternoon strolls on lovely campuses to dedicating your life to studying and teaching ideas that you’re passionate about, the academic life is indeed attractive. Tweed jackets, coffee dates with smart people, getting paid to read books, and summers off—these are just a few of the myriad perks that make working as a professor one of the best gigs in the world. I spent six enriching years earning my Ph.D. at Yale, taught at Harvard, and still harbor immense affection for the time I spent in the hallowed halls of academia. Though I ultimately left for family reasons and a burgeoning business, I still miss it dearly.

Given my background, I am uniquely positioned to offer frank advice about pursuing a Ph.D. and embarking on an academic career. It’s a path marked not only by intellectual fulfillment but also by hard-earned successes and significant sacrifices. Here are 25 of the best aspects of life in academia, which might just sway your decision towards embracing this venerable path.

Intellectual Freedom:Academia offers unparalleled freedom to explore ideas and arguments that fascinate you, without the direct pressures typical of corporate agendas. Yes, you have to navigate office politics and your arguments need to remain connected to evidence, but in the end you can pursue questions that fascinate, intrigue, or bother you.
Passionate Peers:Surround yourself with people who are just as enthusiastic about your field as you are—a constant source of inspiration and challenge. If the phrase “nerd out” is something you use to describe yourself, then this may be the life for you.
Impactful Research:Contribute to the body of knowledge in your field, impacting students, peers, and sometimes public policy. On the STEM side, all major practical advances have their roots in university research, so what you do to expand our collective knowledge can play a role in transforming the technology we use, the ideas that shape how we see the world, and the kinds of opportunities future generations have.
Global Opportunities:Academic careers often come with opportunities to travel, study, and work abroad, enriching your personal and professional life.
Academic Community:Belong to a community that values learning and scholarship, providing a supportive and stimulating environment.
Lifelong Learning:Continue learning throughout your career, with access to cutting-edge research and ongoing professional development opportunities.
Teaching:There’s a profound joy in teaching, in watching students grow intellectually and personally under your guidance. The relationships I built with students persists, and I remain in constant contact with many of them. Seeing them learn and grow has been a genuine blessing.
Flexible Schedule:Though the hours can be long, they are often flexible, allowing you to manage your time according to your personal and professional needs. If you are a self-starter, this is ideal as you can shape your days, enjoy hobbies, and pursue family life.
Tenure Security:Once achieved, tenure is a level of job security that is rare in other fields, allowing for risk-taking in research and stability in life.
Sabbaticals:Regular sabbaticals allow for deep dives into research projects or a well-deserved break, something few other careers offer.
Cultural Stimuli:Campuses are cultural hubs, offering access to talks, art shows, and other cultural events often free of charge. College towns often offer the best of big-city life with dining and cultural events that punch above their weight but green spaces, lovely houses, and small-town charm.
Student Interaction:Engage with young, vibrant minds—students who can challenge and invigorate your own perspectives.
Publishing:While challenging, the satisfaction of publishing research and advancing knowledge is immensely gratifying. There’s nothing quite like seeing your name on the spine of a book or having a paper you’ve spent years working on get published in a major journal.
Academic Conferences:Participate in conferences that gather experts from around the world, offering networking opportunities and exposure to new ideas. I love conferences as spots to have intense-but-friendly (mostly) debates, meet up with old classmates, and gather with accomplished experts in their fields.
Campus Amenities:Enjoy the beauty of campus environments, from libraries and labs to art centers and sports facilities. Saturdays at football games, visits to university museums, lectures by renowned experts and politicians in lovely auditoriums…
Career Autonomy:Direct your own research, choose your teaching subjects, and guide your academic focus.
Mentorship Roles:Act as a mentor to the next generation of scholars, guiding them through their academic and personal challenges.
Research Funding:Access to research funding allows you to explore ambitious projects and collaborate across disciplines.
Academic Recognition:Achieve recognition in your field, a testament to your contributions and hard work.
Work-Life Balance:Academics often have the ability to balance work and personal life more effectively than many high-pressure professions.
Inspiring Alumni:Connect with an extensive network of alumni who can open doors to various professional and academic opportunities.
Technology Access:Use the latest technology and resources to further your research and teaching goals.
Diverse Disciplines:Work closely with experts in a variety of fields, broadening your understanding and interdisciplinary connections. Though my field was in the humanities, I loved that most of my best friends were STEM professors. Hearing about what they did expanded my worldview in important ways.
Creative Expression:Academic work often involves a significant amount of creative thinking and expression, whether in writing, problem-solving, or designing experiments.
Sense of Purpose:Perhaps most importantly, academia offers a profound sense of purpose. Contributing to society’s knowledge and improving the lives of your students can be incredibly rewarding.

Choosing a career in academia is no small decision. It’s a path fraught with intense study, deep research, and a significant amount of uncertainty. For many, the allure of delving deep into a subject they love and contributing to our broader collective knowledge is compelling. However, the reality often differs from expectations. To truly understand if this path is for you, critical self-reflection is essential.

Next week, I’ll give my list of all the ways academic life is NOT great. 

If you’re looking at grad schools and need help with your personal statement, CV, or writing samples, let Gurufi.com help. Our personal statement editors and consultants have decades of experience helping clients get into top Masters and Ph.D. programs in STEM, humanities, fine arts, and social sciences. Our specialty is helping you craft compelling personal statements that move the needle in your admissions process! For questions, shoot us an email at service@gurufi.com. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

What is a Frankenstein Essay, and Why Will It Destroy Your Application?

Cartoon of Frankenstein sitting at a desk, writing a personal statement with a quill, portraying a humorous juxtaposition of a monstrous figure engaged in a scholarly task — Avoid turning your personal statement into a ‘Frankenstein essay’. Even Frankenstein knows the importance of thoughtful, careful editing!

After nearly 20 years of reading, assessing, revising, and consulting on personal statements, I have seen every variety of mistake an applicant can make. More importantly for you, though, is that I am pretty good at identifying the upstream source of the problem and providing guidance on how to fix it. One of the most common mistakes might seem counterintuitive: the author sought too much help… or at least too much of the wrong kind!

Once you’ve finished your personal statement, you may feel a little apprehensive about what you have written, and as such it is only reasonable to seek out second and third opinions to make sure that you have overlooked nothing, the prose is tight, and you have made a compelling case for your candidacy. But, just as an excellent revision and editing can make an average essay excellent, bad editing can wreck an essay. On such occasions, one is smart to heed the old aphorism that ‘too many cooks spoil the broth.’

Once you have completed your first draft, you need to think carefully about how you go about using advice from other people. Here are six pointers for how to get the best advice in order to turn your draft into an excellent final version you are proud of and happy with.

1.) Be careful about who you pick.

Obviously, you want to get advice from someone who writes well, can be frank with you, and has some understanding of the field to which you are applying. If you choose to get advice from a boyfriend or your mother, for example, then be careful because they might give you an overly glowing review because of their esteem and love for you or may lack the qualifications to point out minor problems with your approach. Similarly, asking your English major friend to look at your Engineering graduate school essay is not a bad idea, but if you go that route, also have someone involved in Engineering (preferably in an academic capacity) is a good idea.

Good people to talk to are your academic advisor (if you are applying to graduate or professional schools) or guidance counselor (if you are applying to college). I know that many people will take their essays to message boards and post them to see what people think of it. The problem here is that you have no real way to gauge someone’s level of expertise and you may get too much feedback from too many sources.

Which leads us to point #2…

Don’t give it to too many people.

If you get critiques on your essay from 8-9 different people and you incorporate all of their suggestions, you will be pulled in too many directions and the essay will lose its sense of voice and focus. The old joke that a camel is a horse designed by committee applies here. Your essay cannot be everything to everyone, and you have to accept this fact. There will always be something that someone would have done differently, so they will often naturally advise you that you should do something different than what you are doing.

Ask follow-up questions

Whenever someone suggests a change, don’t be afraid to ask them about it. Sometimes you will agree with their rationale, but disagree with the execution of the change. Also, through a conversation people will often help you see larger problems that you may have missed. People are often hesitant to give tough advice, and a friendly conversation can help you to avoid this problem because by talking to someone, the person will see that you are serious about valuing their advice.

Don’t be afraid to ignore advice.

At the end of the day, this is *your* personal statement, and *your* future depends on how well you execute it. When someone suggests changes, consider their level of expertise, think about it carefully and if you disagree, then don’t do it. Not every piece of advice given is good; often, you will receive terrible advice.

The final decision is yours, so take your role as the gatekeeper of advice seriously, and only let the best suggestions that work well with your theme, tone, approach and goal through.

BUT, try to avoid pride of authorship

In my capacity as an admissions essay consultant, I often encounter customers who are furious when I tell them that they have things that they need to work on. It is almost as if they paid me $200 for me to tell them that their work was perfect, and they should not change a single letter.

Because a personal statement is so, well, personal, it can sometimes sting when someone gives you some pointed advice. Try to see the bigger picture and embrace the process that will help you to move towards a better and stronger essay. Do your best not to see a critique of your essay as a criticism of you as a person, and rather see it as a positive moment that moves you one step closer to your goal.

Consider using an essay editing service

They can be a bit expensive, but in the end, it makes sense to spend a hundred dollars to give yourself a better chance of getting into the graduate program of your dreams. Getting into a top school, as opposed to an average one, is worth investing in, especially when the cost is less than a pair of fancy Nikes or a new purse.

Some things to consider:

-Make sure that they guarantee your satisfaction.

-Ask if they will work with you beyond just receiving a single revision back from you. Often, it will take 2-3 exchanges with your editor to completely understand what you want to say, how you want to say it, and what core message you want to convey.

At Gurufi, we don’t put a cap on the number of revisions you get, and we’re not happy until you are. That’s why we get such consistently excellent reviews!

For more help with your personal statement, check us out at Gurufi.com. Our personal statement editors and consultants have decades of experience helping clients get into top Masters and Ph.D. programs in STEM, humanities, fine arts, and social sciences. Our specialty is helping you craft compelling personal statements that move the needle in your admissions process! For questions, shoot us an email at service@gurufi.com. Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.