Exchange

A old grad school acquaintance appeared the in the Chronicle recently. He who wasn’t especially likable back then came off in the article as quite a thoughtful fellow.

“That’s what the competition in graduate school can do,” said Adam. “It can bring out the worst in people, and temporarily turns them into pricks.”

“Or,” I offered, “surrounded by such pricks, a graduate student can instead get in the habit of offering up her jugular. And then that graduate student will spend the rest of her life in a state of seething resentment."

“Like I said,” Adam blithely continued, “Graduate school can bring out the worst in people.”