the big picture

I was sent an e-mail survey today that included the following question:

What are the most important things for sociology graduate students to do during their tenure in graduate school?

My answer:

1. Figure out what kind of career they want.

2. Develop the substantive expertise and other skills that will allow them to be effective and prosperous in that career.

3. Develop the credentials that will allow them to get a post-Ph.D. job consistent with career they want.

(The idealist in me insists on putting #2 over #3 even though the pragmatist notes that one only gets to implement #2 in an actual career if #3.)

Thoughts?

Update: Somebody e-mailed to ask, "Why would you end a post with 'Thoughts?' and then turn off comments?" I'm not sure why comments were disabled but now they are enabled. So, um, somebody comment.