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Thanks to everyone who shares their knowledge on this forum. I've learned a lot reading past threads!
Here's my situation, and thanks in advance for any advice:
I graduated college with a degree in sociology and subsequently went directly to grad school into a PhD program. I thought sociology would allow me to help be an active agent for positive change in the world. I was passionate about helping people and working closely with students to educate people about social justice. Boy did I found out I was in the wrong place!
My program was a terrible fit for me. I was told not to spend anytime on lesson plans, and that anyone with a passion for teaching was seen as someone who wasn't working hard enough of research, which is what "really matters." I was also advised to give up on activism, as there was no time for that if I wanted to be a successful academic. Along with other disappointments, including having a hard time getting a willing adviser for my 2nd year thesis (equivalent to a master's thesis), I exited the program after two years.
Near the end of my time there, even though I had finished my 2nd year thesis, I had to essentially beg my professor to sign off on my master's degree. He told me it had nothing to do with the quality of my work. He'd rather not grant me a master's degree since that often enabled unhappy students to leave the program, and he wanted to see all his students stay for their phd. The program did not *officially* offer a terminal master's degree, though you could fill out the paperwork to get one. It's just that allowing students to complete that paperwork was frowned upon. Finally I cajoled him and took a leave of absence for a year, and he agreed to sign off and allow me to be granted a master's. After that year off, I declined to return.
He contacted me after that year and asked me to send him my thesis so that he could add to it and submit it for publication. I told him I was not comfortable with this, as it was my intellectual property, and he reacted quite badly. He eventually offered to put my name on the paper as a coauthor if I would also contribute further to the paper, and I declined telling him that my interests were no longer with that vein of research and that I had no interest in pursuing it further. He responded with an angry email in which he said he was "puzzled and disappointed" by my "obstinance" and that was the last I heard from him.
All this said, I feel I pretty much burned my bridges at my last graduate program simply because I wanted to escape what wasn't a good fit for me.
I've since done quite a bit of research and talked to folks I know who are doing social work programs, and that seems like a much better fit for me. Social workers seem outspoken and committed to affecting real change, rather than just locking themselves up in an ivory tower. I'm interested in pursuing an MSW with a focus on becoming a practicing therapist.
I would guess that any graduate program that saw my transcripts would either really want or would outright require a letter of recommendation from someone at the last school that I attended. But I can't think of a single person there to ask. I certainly cannot ask my old adviser, and its my guess that any other professors I TAd for there might have heard my story from him and would also be unwilling to write me anything positive.
This train of thought's got me feeling like I'm out of options for future education and career change all because of this poor experience I had in my phD program.
Anyone ever dealt with this themselves? Any advice on what to do here? Is it possible that a grad program would overlook the fact that I had no letters from my previous program?
Thanks for reading my lengthy post. I would appreciate any feedback.
Here's my situation, and thanks in advance for any advice:
I graduated college with a degree in sociology and subsequently went directly to grad school into a PhD program. I thought sociology would allow me to help be an active agent for positive change in the world. I was passionate about helping people and working closely with students to educate people about social justice. Boy did I found out I was in the wrong place!
My program was a terrible fit for me. I was told not to spend anytime on lesson plans, and that anyone with a passion for teaching was seen as someone who wasn't working hard enough of research, which is what "really matters." I was also advised to give up on activism, as there was no time for that if I wanted to be a successful academic. Along with other disappointments, including having a hard time getting a willing adviser for my 2nd year thesis (equivalent to a master's thesis), I exited the program after two years.
Near the end of my time there, even though I had finished my 2nd year thesis, I had to essentially beg my professor to sign off on my master's degree. He told me it had nothing to do with the quality of my work. He'd rather not grant me a master's degree since that often enabled unhappy students to leave the program, and he wanted to see all his students stay for their phd. The program did not *officially* offer a terminal master's degree, though you could fill out the paperwork to get one. It's just that allowing students to complete that paperwork was frowned upon. Finally I cajoled him and took a leave of absence for a year, and he agreed to sign off and allow me to be granted a master's. After that year off, I declined to return.
He contacted me after that year and asked me to send him my thesis so that he could add to it and submit it for publication. I told him I was not comfortable with this, as it was my intellectual property, and he reacted quite badly. He eventually offered to put my name on the paper as a coauthor if I would also contribute further to the paper, and I declined telling him that my interests were no longer with that vein of research and that I had no interest in pursuing it further. He responded with an angry email in which he said he was "puzzled and disappointed" by my "obstinance" and that was the last I heard from him.
All this said, I feel I pretty much burned my bridges at my last graduate program simply because I wanted to escape what wasn't a good fit for me.
I've since done quite a bit of research and talked to folks I know who are doing social work programs, and that seems like a much better fit for me. Social workers seem outspoken and committed to affecting real change, rather than just locking themselves up in an ivory tower. I'm interested in pursuing an MSW with a focus on becoming a practicing therapist.
I would guess that any graduate program that saw my transcripts would either really want or would outright require a letter of recommendation from someone at the last school that I attended. But I can't think of a single person there to ask. I certainly cannot ask my old adviser, and its my guess that any other professors I TAd for there might have heard my story from him and would also be unwilling to write me anything positive.
This train of thought's got me feeling like I'm out of options for future education and career change all because of this poor experience I had in my phD program.
Anyone ever dealt with this themselves? Any advice on what to do here? Is it possible that a grad program would overlook the fact that I had no letters from my previous program?
Thanks for reading my lengthy post. I would appreciate any feedback.
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