Reply #14: well... thanks - but actually [View All]

[salin]

I chose to go 'terminally abd'. Long story. Ironically the work I did after I left formal academe - led to serious data crunching some publishing and a book. But have left that work as well to found a nonprofit. The long of it - when I went it wasn't to go into academics (I am a prof brat) - half way through the degree shifted focus ... started gearing towards academic profession (but my heart was never in it)... was at a prestigious place so it felt like leaving wasn't an option - and there I was... all my peers were getting good first jobs at research institutions... and I was getting antsy as heck (imagine realizing you are on a conveyor belt leading in one direction, and being sucked into believing that while one didn't want to go in that direction that one was exceptionally fortunate, because others on similar conveyor belts didn't have the same chances of landing those competitive jobs...) Finally took a year off to work on an independent film, and help a friend with a start-up company, while I got some distance and perspective. THEN I could decide whether to spend 1-2 more years (data collection/analysis/writing) on the dissertation - or work towards spending in the future that same amount of time (with next to no pay) starting the nonprofit which had been in my minds' eye since before I started the program. So I left with candidacy, all of the course work, and the dissertation research designed... but with the joy of feeling back in command of the direction I was going. And here I am - trying to raise a boatload of money - but with a 2 year old nonprofit that now pays a couple of salaries...

During the interim job at a policy center at a U - had lots of encouragement to finish ... but had really come to peace with myself and was at the U to earn/save money for the start-up period for the nonprofit - rather than head back onto the conveyor belt and delay the real dream. So there I be... terminally ABD. :D