It’s cute that those friends think the academic job search is anything at all like other job searches, in which you have a reasonable hope of living in a region you find desirable and getting work commensurate with your qualifications. They don’t realize how someone intelligent, competent, and disciplined enough to earn a Ph.D. can be utterly desperate, forced to apply for every job advertised and to take anything offered. —Jonathan Malesic —No Longer a Desperado (Chronicle)

For some reason, a good chunk of the freshmen in my Intro to Literary Study class are talking about grad school this year. I want to be encouraging, but also realistic. What Malesic says about a religous studies Ph.D. applies equally well to an English Ph.D.