Do Graduate Programs Really Separate the Wheat from the Chaff?

[Micadeli]

女士们，先生们，大家好！

 

I, and maybe others in a similar situation, need your collective advice.  My end goal in, say 2-4 years time, is to return to the US and find adequate employment using Chinese professionally, preferably directly for the government or government contractor.  I am trying to decide whether or not to (apply for a scholarship first, of course) enroll in a graduate program in September 2018.  It seems obvious that having a graduate degree would put me in a much better position upon my return home.  Surely, it wouldn't hurt me.  Decisions in life don't often work out so elegantly, right.  I'm concerned about my search for employment without those shiny graduate letters on my CV.  And I'm concerned because I'm working around a few constraints.  The tightest of which is time.

 

我干脆点儿。

 

• I am currently self-studying (I've never had any formal study) to take the HSK 5 in August this year.  (My level is probably mid to high HSK 4)
• As my girlfriend and I are getting older, we are looking to get married sometime in 2018.
• As my girlfriend, particularly, gets older (she'll be 35 in 2018), she's looking to start having children relatively soon.  A natural request.
• My savings between now and the time I would, hypothetically, start a graduate program would be.....questionable, given the amount I still need each month the pay off my student loans.  I say "questionable"for a few reasons:
  1. I'm aware of the unorganized nature of Chinese universities (Thank you, @angeia), which would likely prevent me from working.
  2. I would then be living with my wife, possibly have a child on the way, and meet new costs I've never encountered before. 
  3. And if I'm not working, my then Chinese wife's salary would not be able to support us, if she's working at all (depending on the timing of the child).

 

As you see I'm in a bit of a pickle.  Ultimately, I do believe I can make everything work out.  It would be hard, and I know it would be a long financial struggle and it would put a lot of strain on my potential family.  But I know with the strength and selflessness of my girlfriend, she would help bear the weight.

 

I'm also aware of @Nathan Mao's post a while back shedding some light on idea of finding US government linguist jobs, but I have a hard time believing one could find decent employment with next to survival level Chinese.  Anyway, helpful advice is warmly welcomed.  Much thanks in advance.

 

I know it's probably not totally necessary to go to graduate school, but are the advantages worth the sacrifices given my situation?  Won't I be taken seriously with an HSK 5 or 6 on my CV? 

 

Confused, frustrated, frightened.

[Angelina]

If your goal is to work for the US government, then find a way to work for the US government. A graduate degree requires dedication. Are you sure you are motivated? You seem smart, but you need to be motivated as well. 

Have you asked people who know more about this, moving back? A degree can be helpful, but there might be other, more straightforward, ways to get in. Why take a detour when you seem to already know where you want to get? 

 

On the other hand, if your student loans are making you feel nervous and you want to settle down, have you considered settling in China? I might offer you advice when it comes to this. I can't help with moving to the US and working there, maybe others can. 

 

Looks like your concerns are more about moving back to the US (looking for skills to show) than about graduate school in China. Anyway, it is the people that make the place, so try to find a supportive (and intellectually stimulating) environment. 

[Publius]

Color me cynical, but his future wife might not cherish the idea of him settling down in China.

[Flickserve]

14 hours ago, Micadeli said:

 

I know it's probably not totally necessary to go to graduate school, but are the advantages worth the sacrifices given my situation?

 

What subject do you intend to study?

 

Nobody can tell you if it is worth it.

 

But, if you do a graduate program, you have to be prepared that the benefits may only be 'marginal' with regard to future work prospects.

 

[Angelina]

If you go to grad school in China, it will be easy to get a decent job in China. I saw this from people who already did.  We have campus recruitment, networking. You are right about his girlfriend, @Publius

they should make this decision together.

 

I have no idea about the US. 

 

BTW A good friend of mine, from my undergraduate years, is working for the US Government. She used to be teaching high school English and their school had a Peace Corps volunteer. Somehow she got involved with their NGOs. Two years ago they went on a trip around Asia with the Peace Boat. Last summer she told me they had financial difficulties and she did not go. I think this is because of China though (South China Sea), who knows. 

Maybe other people can tell you more. 

kdavid I think, there was someone who went back home after a master's in China. 

Don't forget that there are places like Singapore, New Zealand, really good for kids. 

Unless, you are interested in studying in China not because you want to work on yourself and then this wisdom is appreciated by society, but because you want to get into intelligence/counterintelligence. Why would you be that set on working for the government? You did not even mention what research area you are interested in. 

[roddy]

Honestly, if you have a very clear idea of the roles you want to be in, fire off a few polite emails to the people who might be on the interview panel and ask what they think. 

[Micadeli]

@Angelia

 

I am beyond motivated.  (I hope to share my study schedule with everyone within the next few days.  I think it will provide some motivation for the community, emphasize the importance of planning, revising for efficiency, and the benefits to be gained from tracking progress.  I will also share the excel template I've created in case others would like to use it.  It will also show how hard I've been working. )

 

I haven't asked anyone who has moved back about this because I don't know anyone.  I was hoping someone with direct experience from this community would pop up.  I'm considering the "detour", as you say, because it seems necessary(?) That's what my goal in writing this was to find out.

 

I have considered settling in China for many reasons. You hit the nail on the head mentioning student loans.  However, the only thing really pulling me back to the States is my family.  That's not a tie I'm willing to overlook for the sake of "financial freedom", you know?

 

You hit the nail on the head again.  Yes, my main concerns are about moving back to the States, and certainly I wouldn't go back until I've found decent employment.  I'm just looking to put myself in the best possible position before that time comes.

 

My motivation for pursuing graduate studies in China is three-fold:  (1) Money.  I refuse to put myself deeper in debt.  (Thank you, America) (2) This is seems best given my current living (and romantic) situation. (3) This would be a huge accomplishment for me personally.  (There's a backstory behind this I won't bore you with, but trust me, this is almost entirely a personally driven pursuit.

 

I'm not totally set on working for the government or gov. contractor.  That's just the goal.  I lost an opportunity to serve my country once (backstory lol), I'm just not ready to call it quits just yet.

 

@Publius

 

My future wife is Chinese.  I don't think she would have any terrible objections to settling down here.

 

@Flickserve

 

Thank you for the tip.  This is also what I suspect.  Sure, no one can really give me the answer to this  A Linguistics program would be great, I think.  Interpretation and Translation is also something I'm interested in.

 

@roddy

 

Yeah, good thought.  It may be difficult to find avenues of reaching out to these people directly, but totally hadn't considered this before. @Angelia See, not as smart as you thought.  Haha

 

Thanks so much everyone!  I really appreciate the comments.  Unfortunately, I don't have a large social group I can bounced ideas like this off of, so all of your suggestions and concerns go much further than you realize. 

 

 

[feihong]

You should consider medical interpreter as a possible field to go into. Depending on where you move back to in the US, this can be in fairly high demand. Of course, the primary limiting factor would be your listening and speaking skills, which we can't gauge from your HSK score.

 

You didn't specify what branch of the government you wish to work for. If it's the Foreign Service, you better start studying for that exam right now. It's very tough, from what I've heard.

[Micadeli]

Hey @feihong thanks for the tip.  I might consider the medical interpreter route, given my parents' and sister's work in the medical field.  I'd have to do some Serious specialized vocabulary work for that.  Most Chinese consider my speaking pretty good.  They're always commenting on my pronunciation, though I'm quite aware of fine line between real honesty and social, conversational habits.  But I can tell you first hand, my listening ain't so hot.  Though I think it depends on where the person I'm talking to falls within the range of those with good pronunciation. For example, taxi drivers vs. Guangzhou Friendship Store employees.

 

I'd like to work in Intel (Perhaps NSA, FBI, or the like.) as a Linguist/Analyst.  I've considered the FSO route many times in the past.  Frankly, I don't believe I've got the intellect for it.  When I'm not working, nearly all of my free time is spent studying Chinese.  I'm committed to keeping that schedule (and am constantly thinking about how I can fit even more study time in my day).  The preparation required for the FS Exam would really take a chunk out of my time devoted to Chinese. 

[Angelina]

5 hours ago, Micadeli said:

I'd like to work in Intel

 

 

ha I am glad I did not overreact at the end of my last post 

 

read this book, I love it

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/151775.Spy_Counterspy

[艾墨本]

On 2/13/2017 at 10:41 AM, Angelina said:

 

If you go to grad school in China, it will be easy to get a decent job in China. I saw this from people who already did.  We have campus recruitment, networking. You are right about his girlfriend, @Publius

they should make this decision together.

 

I have no idea about the US. 

 

BTW A good friend of mine, from my undergraduate years, is working for the US Government. She used to be teaching high school English and their school had a Peace Corps volunteer. Somehow she got involved with their NGOs. Two years ago they went on a trip around Asia with the Peace Boat. Last summer she told me they had financial difficulties and she did not go. I think this is because of China though (South China Sea), who knows. 

Maybe other people can tell you more. 

kdavid I think, there was someone who went back home after a master's in China. 

Don't forget that there are places like Singapore, New Zealand, really good for kids. 

Unless, you are interested in studying in China not because you want to work on yourself and then this wisdom is appreciated by society, but because you want to get into intelligence/counterintelligence. Why would you be that set on working for the government? You did not even mention what research area you are interested in. 

 

2

 

As a current Peace Corps Volunteer (technically 美中友好志愿者 in China), this story is so exciting. 

 

@Micadeli

 

Look into the consular fellow programs that require Chinese at about what you already have. They are good entry level government jobs and a new post in Wuhan just opened, so they are hiring. You'd be looking over Visa paperwork and doing interviews with visa applicants (supplementing with Chinese as needed). 

 

Otherwise, I feel similar to you about the graduate degree. At this point, I've decided I'm going for one (though, preferably in Taiwan), simply because I love the language itself and there are so many avenues to learn on full scholarships. If your motivation to improve Chinese is a better paying job, you're going to run into a wall. Chinees is too long of a march to focus only on the end-goal use-value of it. 

 

If you want to get into government, the current hiring freeze makes that extra difficult. Just take whatever post is open and worry about getting the job you want later. It is much easier to apply from within the US government. This was the advice given to me from the Director of Personel Management for Peace Corps China.

[Angelina]

36 minutes ago, 艾墨本 said:

If you want to get into government, the current hiring freeze makes that extra difficult.

 

The Chinese side is hiring, I was offered a position with them once.

 

Anyway. Do graduate programs separate the wheat from the chaff?

Absolutely. Go for it! 

[Micadeli]

@艾墨本

 

Yeah, totally agree.  Take whatever is open, worry about more preferred employment later.  Just getting in is the idea.  Apply from within later.

 

Thank you!

[LinZhenPu]

On 16/02/2017 at 2:53 PM, Angelina said:

The Chinese side is hiring, I was offered a position with them once.

What do you mean? I'm curious about this.