Hal Rager: Why I Went to Graduate School

My decision to go to grad school was not based on a premeditated schedule. Somewhere in the back of my mind I think I knew I would go to graduate school, I just didn't know when. I got my undergraduate degree some time ago (1981) and had been doing the dig-bum circuit off and on since 1977, not counting a brief hiatus in the late 1980s when I decided I should join the corporate world. I'll give you a tip: doors do not spring open when you utter the magic phrase "I have an undergraduate degree in Anthropology".

My real reason for going to graduate school was realizing that I was not going to be able to do what I wanted with only an undergraduate degree. That of course is to be a part of the analysis and conclusion phase of projects. Unfortunately, all an undergraduate degree allows you to be is cannon fodder on the CRM circuit, perhaps practicing a specialty like ceramic or lithic analysis, or illustration and cartography. This can be a pretty good gig if you don't mind moving a lot and not really putting down roots, but it can get old after a while. I had managed to get a pretty good position on a well funded long-term project, state benefits, I was learning how to do GIS, and doing some analysis, but I didn't get to be a part of the full process. I did what others told me to do. I knew that I needed at least a Masters degree to get a permit with the various agencies and to do archaeology as a crew supervisor or hang out my shingle as a CRM archaeologist. I had trained enough of my own supervisors in field methods who had little or no experience outside of their thesis or dissertation research to know that I could have a similar position somewhere. I felt my experience would be an asset. Still, I hung tight with my situation.

Still, I had really known this for some time, but I had grown used to having evenings and weekends, and having a disposable income with "guilt-free leisure". I really didn't want to lose what little buying power I did have and return to Top Ramen and Peanut Butter. My personal impetus to go back to grad school came when my father suddenly became ill and died soon after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer. I don't mention this to elicit sympathy, only to convey that it took this to make me realize that I was running out of time. I probably only had thirty or forty years left, so I applied, took the GRE, and was admitted. I think it would have happened anyway when the project I was on began to wind down, this just gave me a sense of urgency.

Since then I've had the opportunity to learn a lot of things I didn't realize my previous supervisors knew from the graduate school experience. But that's another story.