The Graduate School Mess: What Caused It and How We Can Fix It

320 Pages·2015·2.512 MB·English

by  Leonard Cassuto

Th e Gradu ate School Mess

LEONARD CASSUTO
Th e
Gradu ate
School
Mess
What Caused It
and How We Can Fix It
Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts, and London, England
2015
Copyright © 2015 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Ame rica
First printing
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Cassuto, Leonard, 1960–
Th e graduate school mess : what caused it and how we can fi x it / Leonard Cassuto.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-674-72898-1 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Universities and colleges—United States—Graduate work. 2. Education,
Higher—Study and teaching (Graduate)—United States. 3. Educational
change—United States. I. Title.
LB2371.4.C27 2015
378.1'550973—dc23 2015011241
To KC Osofsky,
whose choices lie before her,
this book, with love

Contents
Introduction: In Search of a Usable Future 1
1 Admissions 17
2 Classwork: Th e Gradu ate Seminar and Beyond 57
3 Th e Comprehensive Exam: Capstone or Cornerstone? 82
4 Advising 91
5 Degrees 130
6 Professionalization 162
7 Th e Job Market Reconceived 183
Conclusion: In Search of an Ethic 209
Notes 241
Ac know ledg ments 295
Index 299

Th e Gradu ate School Mess