Customer Reviews

The Chicago Guide to Your Academic Career: A Portable Mentor for Scholars from Graduate School through Tenure

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I personally love this book and find it to be much more interesting, and in some ways informative, than a similar book I have which is a bit more clinical in its approach. It's full of personal anecdotes and lots of advice that I enjoyed. And why should anyone get mad just because the two white, male professors said they have not noticed any discrimination against women in their fields? They don't say there isn't any, and indeed, give some statistics and information to say there probably *is* discrimination, but of a more covert manner than in the past. This book has a chapter that my other book doesn't on counteroffers and moving around in academia, how to negotiate family and the 'two-body' problem, and other more intimate advice than some other books give. The authors seem to recognize that academics is not all about publishing, teaching, and service. It involves many other aspects of your life, and they touch on them. That said, a 3-hour chat with 3 of your own professors may be just as informative as this book, but the problem is getting your professors to sit down and have that chat with you! Here you get those 3 hours for a low price and can consult them later. I like the fact that these 3 don't hold themselves up as ultimate authorities, but simply as 3 different viewpoints of an academic life.

As a PhD student, I would say that this book is more useful for two groups of people: 1) those who are thinking of going through a phd program and becoming professors, and 2) for advanced phd students who are getting to the job market. This book is lacking in useful advice for funding, staging the phd progress and conducting research, which is why I originally bought it. (It might be better titled as "guide to the academic job market and working conditions")

Also, the conversational style of dialog between the three professors straight-up bugs me, like they couldn't find an editor to synthesize their opinions in a clear fashion. Sometimes the attribution of stories and experiences to the particular professor is good, but most of the time, it's just distracting.

Good points are things like the major major concern about going for all kinds of funding and not racking up a hundred thousand dollars in student loans if you're not in law or medical school. Also problems of being a female academic and balancing career track with marriage/family goals.

So in all, good advice, but you really have to wade through the tedious conversational style to get to the gems. (Now some people might like that format, but ask any good ethnographer- you shouldn't include every single part of what people say when you write up your research.)

Earlier this year, I was having trouble deciding whether what I could get in academia was what I wanted out of life (I have been out of college and working for 2 years).

This book was a very big help in making that decision. The multiple perspectives from all 3 authors helps place the emphasis on the fact that you need to weigh all the factors to make these decisions about your academic career.

After seeing some of the positives and negatives of academic life in this book, I am convinced that the positives of what I can do in my career will far outweigh the negatives. And in the future, I will be able to refer back to this book when I need to be reminded of things about the dissertation, the job search, etc.

The format of this book is that the 3 authors - each who have had associations with the University of Chicago - take turns answering questions. Each one gives personal opinions about choosing to pursue graduate studies, the dissertation, the job hunt, aspects of tenure and the academy. Their viewpoints are somewhat narrow and I found the two male academics to be somewhat offensive at times. For example, when asked about the extent of discrimination in academia, both white males say that they have never seen any overt or covert discrimination!
I think that there are more comprehensive and less biased sources of the general information the authors provide.
To begin with, you would do better to sit down with three members of your department and ask the same questions.