🚀 go-pugleaf

Philip Bond writes:
> Leigh Palmer writes:
>>  ...  Many who did not make it, indeed many who
>>did not even apply, or could not because of residential or financial
>>condition would love to be in your position. Abandon the spurious
>>motivation you express here implicitly and seize the wonderful
>>opportunity which you have been given.
>
>Since when is wanting a reasonable job a spurious motivation ? Having a decent
>job that is socially useful and pays OK ( "fairly reasonably" ) is a damn
>fine ambition in my view.

Good point - too much idealism can be dangerous.  I've tried an
extended period of unemployment, and it's not exactly spiritually
rewarding.  There's nothing wrong with thinking pragmatically about
your future prospects (I think the maxim should be "The lack of money
is the root of evil") - especially if you're a physics grad student,
or even any college student, given how dismal the job market's been
lately.

On the other hand, Leigh is very correct in saying, essentially,
that you (we) are lucky to have gotten this far.  Better to be an
unemployed physics PhD than an unemployed high school graduate - or
dropout.  The originator of this thread, the undergrad, should
consider many career decisions can be postponed, and at least in
physics we're lucky; the departments can pay you to go to school.

Ben

P.S.  Phil, are you _sure_ that working for Salomon Bros. is "socially
useful"?   ;)