Some big academic news

So now that my MPhil is almost done and the deadline for applying to the PhD is drawing near, it is decision time as to what to do next. And I have decided I'm not going to continue on to the PhD.

This is a really big change in plans, I know! But I've actually been pondering it for many months and I'm very happy about it. And it doesn't mean we're coming home early - we've made other plans for our third year abroad! More on that below. But first, here's the reasons for my decision.

I want to clarify first that I'm not actually quitting anything I've started. I only applied for a two-year MPhil degree and my student status expires on September 30, 2007. I intended to continue on to the PhD and I indicated as much on the application, but I never committed to it and neither did Oxford. To continue, I would have to apply to the DPhil (i.e. PhD) program, with references and everything.

The main reason I'm going to stick with the MPhil is that I no longer need a PhD for the career I want to pursue. The only career a PhD is required for is being a college professor, and I don't really want to be a professor. Yes, this was pretty much always my career goal - but that's only because it was the best option I could come up with.

What I have always really wanted to do is travel a lot and live a quiet life that mainly involves reading books on religion, philosophy and history all day! But since I didn't expect to win the lottery, a career in academia seemed the only way to pursue my interests while also earning a living.

And I really dig the academic world with its musty books and tweed suits, and it must be super cool to have "Dr." in front of your name. I was definitely looking forward to that. However, I didn't love all the frequent public speaking, the papers I'd have to write, the deadlines, the pressure to publish regularly, or the grading of papers that an academic career involves.

I knew these downsides all along (especially after I briefly tried out teaching), and that's why I took a few years out to consider my options after getting the master's from Edinburgh. But in the end I decided to return to graduate school because I figured I'd get used to those things and being a professor was still better than any other job I could think of. And of course, I was very thrilled about the opportunity to study at Oxford and live in England, and I still am.

But the good news is I have finally found a better career option: one that actually comes marvelously close to what I had always really wanted to do - travel, read, and be free. And it doesn't require a PhD, hurrah!

Revised Career Plans

The career I am going to pursue might be called "freelance religion and travel writer." Mainly, this means making a career out of my two websites and maybe some related things. I never dared to hope this could really be possible until recently, but after nearly three years of running my websites (ReligionFacts and Sacred Destinations), I am now making significantly more income than I made in my "real job" at PERS, and it continues to grow every month.

(For those who are interested in the details of how this is possible, I get paid from the advertising that displays on my website. This ranges from "Ads by Google" links and banner ads to commission on books from Amazon, hotel reservations, and rail tickets.)

I have enjoyed my website projects from the beginning and three years later I still have a wonderful time working on them. It is the exact opposite of my dissertation - it doesn't feel at all like a job! It's what I choose to do with my free time and I really enjoy it. I think that's primarily because it really suits my short attention span and my wide-ranging interests. It's also very satisfying to build up a resource that has lasting value and is useful to people. So the fact that I am now making a decent living doing this is such an incredible thing and I feel very lucky.

Of course an online career is somewhat uncharted territory so it does seem less stable than driving to an office everyday (not that layoffs don't happen). But fortunately I've been able to experiment in my spare time risk-free and it has turned out well. And as for the future, all trends seem to point towards Internet use getting more and more popular and the same is true with interest in religion and travel. I've really tried to look at it objectively, and so has David - who started out quite a skeptic that this could ever be a real job! - and it does seem this can truly be a stable, long-term career.

But I also hope to eventually diversify a little - maybe write a book, or be a freelance contributor of articles to magazines, who knows. In general, I'm hopeful that the combination of my good master's degrees, successful websites, and travel experiences can help me have a career that might be unconventional but much more enjoyable and satisfying. And if all of that falls through, I can always revert to the original plan, get a PhD and be a professor. :)

You might well ask why I don't just go ahead and follow through with the PhD anyway, since it would be such a wonderful accomplishment and I'm almost there. The answer is that it would really be cool to have a PhD but I'm actually not almost there - it would still take a great deal of time, effort and expense. With the continual drop in the dollar's value, another year of tuition would cost around $26,000 - and that's assuming I can do it in a year. Many people take two years or even more. We're still working on getting out of debt so the idea of spending that much for no real practical reason does not appeal!

And even if I could incorporate my master's thesis into my doctorate, I still wouldn't even be halfway there. My master's is 30,000 words but a doctoral dissertation has to be 100,000 words. So I'd have to write the same amount twice over and achieve an even higher quality of original scholarship. And honestly, I really, really don't want to write any more papers! Although I'm interested in my subject and enjoy the research, the actual writing about it in a scholarly manner with proper citations, compelling arguments, and everything just right - it has really felt like a chore and I have to force myself to work on it. And that's exactly what I would be doing a whole lot more of for the PhD.

So the bottom line is: I don't really want to do the doctoral program and thanks to the success of the websites it looks like I no longer need to. I'll always be an academic at heart - I hope to have my own tweed suit and library of musty books - but I really think this "freelance" path that has presented itself will allow me to explore my interests and share them with others while being much happier.

And I will still be very proud of the accomplishment of earning an MPhil from Oxford. It has definitely not been a waste of time. I have worked really hard for it, it's been a great experience, and it's a significant degree. It's the highest one you can get at Oxford other than a PhD - most of my seminar colleagues are just doing the one-year MSc (Master of Sciences - that's what I got from Edinburgh). So it will be a very good credential for whatever I do in the future. It would give me extra authority as a book author, website author, freelance writer, speaker or whatever. And of course, it would allow me to pursue a PhD at a later date if my life ends up not feeling complete without it.

So I hope no one is too disappointed and that you can still love me if I'm not a Doctor. :)

What We're Doing Next

Now to the details of our plans for the next year. As you know from my recent posts, I finish my MPhil program at the end of June. If all goes well, I'll have my degree ceremony probably in September. Our lease here in Wolfson College also ends at the end of June, so we are going to move to an apartment somewhere nearby, ideally closer to David's work.

We plan to stay here in England until at least the end of the year, so David can continue working and we can pay off our remaining debt and save up some money. In the meantime, I'll be working hard on my websites. And we will see as much of the UK and Ireland as possible while we're here! No more trips further away than that.

Then, if my websites are continuing to do well (and I'm hopeful they'll be doing even better by then), we're going to move to Europe for awhile! Starting with Germany. We'd like to find an apartment in Bonn or some other fairly central place, get a German version of Wilma, and just take a few months to soak up the culture, learn the language, and see as much as possible of Germany and nearby countries.

Then we'll move to France and do the same thing for a few months! And then maybe Italy. And Greece. Or maybe we'll get homesick after a few months in a non-English-speaking country and bag it all and come home early. But at this point we expect to come home around the end of 2008, as was the original plan.

This big adventure will be funded by my website income, so thankfully neither of us will have to find a real job in Europe. As you might imagine, David is absolutely thrilled about not working and being a full-time traveler for awhile!

We've done some research into living costs in Europe and they are almost universally cheaper than the UK, and especially cheaper than Oxford! We'll get an apartment like the natives and not hotels (except on overnight trips). And we won't have to fly or spend too much on transportation, since we will just see everything that's a short drive or train trip away, like we do here in England.

Then What?

After that grand adventure, we'll come back to Oregon, visit everyone and hang out for awhile, gather all our stuff from storage, and look to buy a house somewhere. It may not be in the Portland area, but probably in the Pacific Northwest. We have had some California thoughts, but I dunno.

And then David will get a real job or pursue his own dreams of self-employment (he has some good ideas too!) and I will hopefully continue on developing my websites and whatever else comes my way.

We are having a great time traveling but we are also really looking forward to putting some roots down in the good old US of A and having friends and family close by, and our furniture, and cats, and Oscar parties, and a backyard with the beautiful BBQ we got as a wedding present.

So that's the plan, God willing! If all this has been confusing, which I expect it has, here's the short version of the revised plan:

May-June 2007: Finish dissertation, take exams, find a new place to live
June 29, 2007: School's out! (Yay!) I am 30 years old! (Boo!)
July 2007 to maybe January 2008: Live and travel in England, David working at O2 and me on my websites until we have no debt and some money saved.
Februaryish 2008: Move to Germany. See as much of it as possible.
Juneish 2008: Move to France. Then Italy? Or Greece?
September-December 2008: Come home. Buy a house. Go to Burgerville regularly!