Where technical skills are concerned, philosophy may not help you get your first job. But it will certainly help if your continued success depends on adapting quickly to new learning environments. If your planning to attend graduate school in philosophy, chances are you have in mind to join the academy. Benefits abound for those of the right mind-set. But the road to the academy can be a long and difficult one.
Graduate students are an unusual breed.
Cloistered in their respective institutions, they often devote many years to subjects which garner little public interest, all the while living at subsistence levels and without real promise of monetary reward or peer recognition. Well, no doubt these and more count among the reasons. Some are noble, others are just plain baffling. But whatever brings one to graduate school, once there for a year or two, the culture can seem inescapable for those who want to keep their job options open. If you don't leave, the path of least resistance may end up going nowhere. .