Are graduate studies worth the trouble?

Hi,

I would definitely left education at my mid 20ies, and if I ever get kids will advise them the same.... but being a foreigner in the USA and deaf was not easy, cause I was fluent neither in English nor in Sign Language. Hence I ended up being at school till my 30ies and now I am at the difficult position to decide if I should apply for PHD, in order to become more competitive and attain new skills in a country where I have been only 7 years (deprived of useful contacts, acquaintances or relatives who could help me find my way) or I better stop wasting my years after degrees and worthless professors....

In short, my dilemma goes like this: Should I go for a PHD (in philosophy, 3 to 4 years length) when I am not sure if my hearing condition will allow me become a professor, or should I devote my time being creative (in a foreign language) without ever gaining any decent compensation for my books, writings, etc?

It depends... If you want to become a teacher/professor, fine, but not something like liberal arts with no needed specialization. The latter is an example of a "degree mill" operating with legal, official sanction by the state, and I got burned bad by this. If you already have a Masters, GO TEACH! You don't need anything else.

Have you at least browsed job openings and see what the degree requirements are? If a majority only require masters well then what's the point of a PhD?

Just based on my experience the more degrees you have doesn't mean you are more qualified. There's no substitute for a eager desire to do a good job and consistently improve. In my software field I've seen programmers with master's but they can barely hold down a job and yet I see people with just a bachelors and they do a great job.

You could also try testing the waters a bit by going through some interviews and see if the hearing issue comes up. I would imagine in a in-person classroom setting it can be a problem but lately they have these online courses and you could get around this by doing a text chat session instead of a voice session.

Hope that helps and good luck!

Why not. I know many Deaf people do have PHD, only if they were interested in teaching at a college level. Sure!

I have a BA degree. If my work do pay me to go back to school I WILL go BACK to school. Unfortunately my work don't.

Gallaudet and RIT provide interpreters for you to teach the class if you don't know any sign language.

Thanks everyone for your replies Lately I have discovered that is not hearing loss the only reason why I get easily confused and frustrated, it must be innate Anyway, it took a lot of time till I got used with this new lifestyle....

I appreciate your posts, and hope till the end of the year I come up with a decision

IF YOU GOT m.a why you hestitating what your degree's in so far...I know a few doctors and nurses who deaf and on here there some who got degree very clever(I not one of them).
It life style you got get used to but should not stop you from doing much stuff.
Stephen Hawkins not deaf but my god he got big problems but look at him cleversst person in world