Questions about academe

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Anglicanorthodoxy

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I was having some issues accessing PB with my browser, and haven't posted in a few weeks. I had some questions about academia. I'm currently a senior in high school, and I'm considering either becoming a corporate attorney or a Classics professor. I don't know where I'll be going to undergrad yet, but it's more than likely that I'll go to Hampden-Sydney. If I go there, I will major in Classics( I'll take 4 years of Latin, 4 years of Greek, and several courses on Western literature, culture, and philosophy) Ill get a rigorous undergraduate education, and it'll prepare me well for law school or PhD school. If I decide that I want to become a professor, and go into a top PhD program in Classics( Johns Hopkins or UVA) what are my odds at landing a tenured professorship after I get my PhD? I know the academic job market is terrible, and being a conservative Christian will make it even harder for me to land a job as a professor. I've been told that guys with PhDs who don't get jobs as professors usually end up at think tanks. Like I said, I know the academic job market is terrible, and that puts me in a tough situation. Making a ton of money isn't a priority for me, but I want to have a really large family, so I'll need to make decent money. The state of the academic job market saddens me, because I think being a Classics professor is something I'd love doing. Any professors on PB? All advice is appreciated.
 
There are professors on here but having thought of being a history professor I asked my brillant mentor and professor what she thought and she strongly discouraged me from it.
Take it for what its worth.
 
I was having some issues accessing PB with my browser, and haven't posted in a few weeks. I had some questions about academia. I'm currently a senior in high school, and I'm considering either becoming a corporate attorney or a Classics professor. I don't know where I'll be going to undergrad yet, but it's more than likely that I'll go to Hampden-Sydney. If I go there, I will major in Classics( I'll take 4 years of Latin, 4 years of Greek, and several courses on Western literature, culture, and philosophy) Ill get a rigorous undergraduate education, and it'll prepare me well for law school or PhD school. If I decide that I want to become a professor, and go into a top PhD program in Classics( Johns Hopkins or UVA) what are my odds at landing a tenured professorship after I get my PhD? I know the academic job market is terrible, and being a conservative Christian will make it even harder for me to land a job as a professor. I've been told that guys with PhDs who don't get jobs as professors usually end up at think tanks. Like I said, I know the academic job market is terrible, and that puts me in a tough situation. Making a ton of money isn't a priority for me, but I want to have a really large family, so I'll need to make decent money. The state of the academic job market saddens me, because I think being a Classics professor is something I'd love doing. Any professors on PB? All advice is appreciated.

As someone who has taught undergraduate (Grove City College) and seminary, without ever having planned to be a professor, I'll weigh in with my 2c worth. (I also have a son currently pursuing a PhD in Old Testament, so I'm interested in his future as well). In my view, the future of academia is bleak. The demographics are against you (smaller populations of College age students), the philosophy of the age is against you (people go to college to get a qualification, not an education) and the economics are against you (Colleges are using more part time adjuncts and fewer full time tenured faculty). None of this will be helped if Hillary introduces "free" College education, which at a stroke would cripple most private schools.

None of that necessarily means you shouldn't pursue your dream, but do it with a clear eyed perspective. In other words, avoid debt like the plague, from undergrad onward, and only consider a PhD program if it is fully funded (full tuition plus enough to live on - even if that means beans and rice). Your motivation should never be the job at the end of it (which may never materialize) but the opportunity to immerse yourself in a small corner of the fascinating world God has made. If you do that, then you'll be in a good position at the end of it to take any opening that there is (even if it doesn't pay very well) because you are debt free, and if you end up with a job that you could have got simply with an undergrad, you won't be angry because for all those years you had the amazing opportunity to study something that entrances you, and in the process you learned skills of research and writing that will transfer to whatever field you find yourself in.

One more caution: academic study (even of the Bible) can be intensely dangerous to your soul, so don't forget to factor in to your evaluation of universities the importance of a great church. A "top rated" program without a top rated church (even if it is a small group of faithful believers) will likely eat you alive. My own studies at Cambridge, for which I am profoundly grateful, would not have been the same without the support of Cambridge Presbyterian Church and the fellowship provided by Tyndale House.
 
How can I add to what has been said, especially by Dr. Duguid? I can only try. After all, hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I'd done things differently and most certainly would have had I been born five to ten years later.

When I started college in 1992 the internet was not a household word except for maybe in the Gore's. Studying "what you like" was the most common advice I received. In other words I ended up spending thousands of dollars to study a hobby leaving me to "use" my degree elsewhere. Nowadays it is possible to become extremely knowledgeable in almost anything you want learn about at costs that are rapidly approaching zero. Your formal education can be directed to what you plan to do to offer value in the marketplace if you need credentials. If you plan to offer enough value in instructing people in the classics to support a family, you'd better find out how good you need to be and the connections you'll need to make to pull it off.

My undergraduate is in history with a concentration in the ancient and medieval eras. Classics was what I was going to pursue but ultimately declined as result of a flawed but adequate cost/benefit analysis. At the end of the day, I wasn't prepared (inadequate language prep) and didn't earn enough scholarship money to stay on top of costs without accruing outrageous debt. Costs were extremely high twenty years ago, now they are insidious.

With the rise of internet, I'm glad so many other paths are materializing for people to develop skills.
 
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Classics can work as a pre-law - I remember one of the law professors decades ago gleefully announcing to the class that a Classics major had been admitted to the next year's incoming class; I understand that that was his background, as well. On the other hand, it was remarkable only because of its rarity.

On the other hand, if you do want to chase being a corporate attorney, I'd recommend a Business Administration degree for undergrad. Or I remember some university, again some decades ago, offering a 6 year program that led to joint JD-MBA degrees - you might fish around and find out if something like that was still available.

Or join an engineering degree with a law degree and head toward intellectual property as a target. (I know one guy with a law degree that successfully pursued admission to the patent bar; last time I heard of him, he had a craft beer bar on the border between 'safe' and 'clearly unsafe' Dallas.)
 
On the other hand, if you do want to chase being a corporate attorney, I'd recommend a Business Administration degree for undergrad. Or I remember some university, again some decades ago, offering a 6 year program that led to joint JD-MBA degrees - you might fish around and find out if something like that was still available.

Ole Miss had quite a few students in such a program when I was in law school. Also realize that if you pursue law school, and really want to work in the Fortune 100 "corporate world," you need to be at the top of your class, make the Law Review, and interview very well for a shot at the best jobs, and a federal clerkship would not hurt. One of the great truisms of law school can be summed up: "law school is the coping exercise where very smart people go to watch other very smart people make all the good grades." As others have said regarding a classics or seminary education, don't go into debt for a legal education, either. Its tough out there in this economy.
 
Also realize that if you pursue law school, and really want to work in the Fortune 100 "corporate world," you need to be at the top of your class, make the Law Review, and interview very well for a shot at the best jobs, and a federal clerkship would not hurt.

Probably need to add 'at a top 20 law school' to that.
 
Also realize that if you pursue law school, and really want to work in the Fortune 100 "corporate world," you need to be at the top of your class, make the Law Review, and interview very well for a shot at the best jobs, and a federal clerkship would not hurt.

Probably need to add 'at a top 20 law school' to that.

It sure would not hurt, either. I was amazed how stiff the competition was for such jobs.
 
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