Monday, April 6, 2009

The great divide (between grad students and non-grad students.)

The last guest post in this wonderful series is from one of my favourites, in blogging and real life, Distracted Spunk. This post hits a little close to home...


***

Non-grad students say, "It's just school. Why can't you come out on Friday night?"

Grad students respond, "It's Friday? Shit. I thought it was Tuesday. Wait, which week is this?"

Non-grad students gasp and say, "Oh my god, you wrote 82 pages?"

Grad students exclaim, "Is 82 pages enough? I knew it wasn't enough. I have to go write some more."

Non-grad students are secretly thinking, "She used to be so much more interesting before she went to grad school."

Grad students are secretly thinking, "I wonder if that paragraph works in the context of the larger argument. Is my argument clear enough?"

Non-grad students point out, "You used to blog frequently."

Grad students say, "I have a blog? Oh crap, I have a blog!"

Non-grad students talk about all the sex and relationships and adventures they're having.

Grad students talk about their latest conversation with their advisor and whether or not they might be able to publish an article based on their work.

Non-grad students roll their eyes when they come across a faction of grad students.

Grad students nod and shake their heads in shared understanding when they come across a faction of grad students.

If only we mere grad students had a secret handshake. Then our lives would be infinitely more interesting. Or lame.

18 comments:

Jane said...

This is fantastic.

Fermi said...

Grad students respond, "It's Friday? Shit. I thought it was Tuesday. Wait, which week is this?"

This is my life.

My mom calls about my Easter plans.

My response: When's Easter?

Z said...

This is soooooo me/my life. I woke up in a panic at 5am on Saturday, trying to plan out all I had to do that day. Then I realized - it was my first day off in over 3 weeks. But it still took me awhile to convince myself that, yes, I really could go back to bed for awhile...

Anonymous said...

Haha, love this. As I am currently thinking about going back to get yet another Masters, and not a Ph.D.

Andhari said...

AMAZING. Made me wonder how I change if I go to a grad school.

Melissa said...

I'm not sure if this more funny or sad... because it describes my experience perfectly. I'm really not sure how I'm feeling about it. Although it did make me laugh out loud.

Tigerlily said...

Every word is true. I never know the days of the week.

B said...

I definitely think that a secret handshake would make everything better.

nova said...

i'm still an undergrad and this is me.
i'm doomed

Anonymous said...

This post is spot on.

I get this one a lot:

Non-grad students gasp and say, "Oh my god, you wrote 82 pages?"

Grad students exclaim, "Is 82 pages enough? I knew it wasn't enough. I have to go write some more."

Crashdummie said...

Geekyness - we haz it ;)

PS. If u ever do decide to cross the ocean, u dont need to hunt me down, i'll be the willing guide prey at your service! cheers hun

Angela said...

Grad students say, "I have a blog? Oh crap, I have a blog!"

I feel you, girl. And I've got 3 blogs...

Lpeg said...

I don't miss Grad school in the least. And aside from being in the only Grad program at my school, it was an architecture program on a military campus... they all thought we were nuts to begin with... 'those students who build funny looking things and stay in that building all night long!' lol.

Rosemary/sonrie said...

oh yes. oh yes. grad school is when you go to a conference one year the day before Easter and this year on your birthday so you can learn more about how to be effective in your field. next year i'm skipping.

K.Pete said...

Oh wow ... I relate to this too. My life is becoming more and more "boring" as the semesters go on.

8 more months ...

Kate said...

Yikes, and here I am thinking about going back for my Masters!

michelle woo said...

On the flip side...
I'm a non-grad student and definitely do not talk about all the sex I'm having. My friend, who just finished law school, did say how sex was the best pre-exam stress reliever ever.

KA said...

That sounds like the divide from the military to civilians.... except we sorta do have a secret handshake - it's called a salute. And SOME people think we're cool... except we're really not.