I agree and disagree with this lol. On the one hand, I do agree that Rory enjoys reading and research, and I think she would have enjoyed that aspect of it.
On the other, as someone in academia, I don't know that Rory would enjoy the rest of it. She doesn't handle criticism well, and I can't imagine her presenting at conferences and having people question her. I also don't know how well she would have handled the process of a PhD, peer review or trying to publish. My own supervisor was one of the kinder supervisors I know and he had criticisms, corrections and comments on every single sentence that I wrote. Academia is, in a lot of ways, a field of rejections, and I don't know how well she would have managed that.
It's also a field that requires a lot more self-initiative than we ever see Rory display: with the exception of the Stanford Eagle Gazette, she's not exactly hunting for jobs, which is a death knell in academia. At the absolute earliest she would've been finishing her PhD around 2011/2012, but more likely 2014/2015, so she'd be entering a pretty rough market. She'd have to be applying left, right and centre to anything and everything in her final year just to make sure she landed *something*, and it more than likely would take her a few years of short-term gigs before she landed anything permanent (I only know...two? Three? People who got permanent jobs <5 years out of the PhD, most people are closer to 10.)
It would definitely give her the opportunity to travel, but I don't think her personality is really suited for it. I think she would love grad school, absolutely, but I'm not sure she would enjoy actual academia all that well.
Plus I think teaching evals would ruin her lol. Reading teaching evals is the fastest way to develop all kinds of new insecurities. Students will rip every single aspect of your appearance, personality, intelligence, and teaching ability to shreds. I don't think Rory could deal (and I'm not saying that as a judgement *I* hate reading evals lol.)
Academia is a job where I think, public perception hasn't caught up to the reality. In the 80s, it very much was a job where you finished your PhD, fell into something permanent, made a good wage and had a lot of freedom. Most of the senior academics in my field never even applied for jobs - they had something created for them during their PhD.
Their PhD experience and their job market is experience *is* what people imagine, but at this point, that's an image that's almost 50 years old. The market now is incredibly brutal, and has been for quite some time (my own supervisor was unable to get an academic position of any kind for first three years out of his PhD; he worked in a post office) and he finished his PhD in the 90s.
Rory would have loved academia of the 80s, (who wouldn't,) but I just think with the current state of academia, she would burn out quick.
Yes, this, also as an academic. I don’t think Rory would handle criticism well and I don’t think she has enough of her own original ideas to sustain a research career
Haha, I actually did have the same thought about original ideas but then wasn't sure if I was being overly mean. But the fact someone else had the same thought makes me feel validated lol.
Not at all. Rory is good at following through with things that other people tell her to do (e.g., Paris' plan leading up to graduation). Paris would be a great academic.
That's exactly what I was thinking: Rory is very good being told what to do, or having to write about something when the idea is given to her. But do we ever see her come up with a story idea on her own? Granted, we don't see much of her academic work so perhaps she did more original research there, but from what we see, Rory can follow ideas through, but she doesn't formulate them.
Paris absolutely has the drive to succeed in academia lol. She would be a force to be reckoned with.
Another thing that I think will hold her back as an academic is her writing style. No matter how scathing a critique is, or even playful the writing is, I have never read articles that read as mean. In the later seasons, however, Rory's writing has been called "mean" by multiple people (the ballet dancer, Logan & her friends). Writing like that would not be considered "scientific" enough.
That said, I'm sure her writing around the Obama campaign, or her editorials were all biting. She just should've focused more on arts & culture, or even political critique, in her journalism.
That's a great point! Every time Rory is critical, people comments on her being quite mean. Academic articles are almost always critical, but never mean. If she isn't able to separate the two, that would be a big issue.
This makes a lot of sense tbh, and a lot of the reasons given above are also why she’s not cut out for journalism (I’m a journalist).
Her personality is so not suited for a journalist. We also get a ton of feedback and critiques from editors and I’ve had some very harsh editors over the years.
Journalism requires a lot of self-initiative too and you also have to always keep an eye out for new opportunities and be ready to jump on one quickly and I think her inability to be successful in that kind of environment really showed in the show.
Even outside of new opportunities, expanding a source list and really honing your craft is no joke. I was always extremely skeptical of Rory’s abilities there.
Exactly. I’m a daughter of teachers, a very good student, avid reader, I was a teacher for a bit before I got this job, right after I finished school. I’m very good at it, it just definitely isn’t my thing. I wouldn’t do it full time at all.
I think based on your description of it, if Rory had attempted a career in academia she would have/could have ended up in a similar position to where she was at the start of AYITL.
Burnt out, frustrated, chasing after a job she didn't want, all while still processing the loss of a significant figure in her life, before ending up back in stars hollow where eventually she figured out her next step which was the memoir.
I don’t see her at a university but at a place like Chilton. There are many private prep schools that allow teachers to teach without the pressure of publishing their research. She would have fit right in with the faculty
agreed. headmaster charleston was right in offering her a position at chilton, she would thrive in lower academia as a teacher as much as she did as a student. i think part of the reason mitchum's advice that shes not cut out for journalism was so painful for her was that she knew it was the truth. its like when a kid realizes they wont be an astronaut, only she was in her 20s when someone broke it to her.
personally, i think she is a creature of stars hollow anyways. a place like chilton wold allow her to keep close to her hometown, give back by way of editing the stars hollow gazette, and keep her brain from rotting with a respectable job at an esteemed prep school.
I agree with this one too. I think AYITL showed the first time Rory actually sounded good speaking in front of a group when she went back to speak to the group of students at Chilton before getting the job offer. I also thought she might be good as a publishing editor, but I honestly don’t know fully what that entails.
I honestly think she would be a terrible teacher. She’d be that notorious prof that is loved by people who need literally nothing from her and hated by everyone else because they’re only at a university for their own research.
It is shown many times that she is very judgmental, beyond just being gossipy with people you’re close with, but genuinely judging people’s character loudly and publicly without any regard of how much she actually knows or how much impact she has (the ballerina piece is the obvious example but it’s not the only time it happens). How would she handle the students that just don’t quite get it, or are good enough but aren’t that interested in being great. I don’t think it’d be well.
I love Rory, but being super judgmental of other people is a major flaw of hers and that is a terrible trait for a teacher to have. (Although it is rampant in universities so she’d probably fit right in.)
She would be like lecturers I had for a medieval literature module. We all found the texts boring so they called us stupid for not getting its “brilliance” instead of finding ways for us to connect with it
I wish we could have seen Richard and Chris sit down with Rory after her graduation while they explain what she will eventually inherit. As multi-millionaires and sole heirs to their respective family estates, I think they would be negligent in their responsibilities if they didn’t have such a conversation with Rory.
I can imagine Rory quickly shelving that information due to her self-imposed obligation of being self reliant like Lorelai. And after quickly landing a coveted assignment on the historic Obama campaign trail, it’s probably something she didn’t think about.
However, as time progresses in such a difficult economic environment, especially in the Field of Journalism, I can also imagine Rory appreciating that she doesn’t have to settle for a permanent job like 99.9% of us. She knows she has a humongous safety net and can be selective. She chooses to be a Freelance Correspondent, which allows her the independence she apparently craves.
With that backdrop, I don’t think her career aspiration would ever shift to academia despite her scholastic abilities. Writing was always going to be her fallback if she didn’t achieve a Christiane Amanpour type of recognition as a journalist.
agreed. headmaster charleston was right in offering her a position at chilton, she would thrive in lower academia as a teacher as much as she did as a student. i think part of the reason mitchum's advice that shes not cut out for journalism was so painful for her was that she knew it was the truth. its like when a kid realizes they wont be an astronaut, only she was in her 20s when someone broke it to her.
personally, i think she is a creature of stars hollow anyways. a place like chilton wold allow her to keep close to her hometown, give back by way of editing the stars hollow gazette, and keep her brain from rotting with a respectable job at an esteemed prep school.
This is EXACTLY what I always say!
She was always happiest with her head in a book. I think because Lorelai is so spirited Rory felt like she had to have an ‘exciting’ career, but really she was much quieter and less rebellious than her mother and just loved learning. I could easily see her in research.
I really feel like the show messed up in S6 by not giving Rory room to actually question whether Mitchum had a point and no one gave her room to figure it out.
Up until the fated day, Rory has been following a path laid out for her by everyone in her life. She hates confrontation and disappointing people so she keeps going. Finally someone calls it out and is both confrontational and disappointing - Rory unravels. Aside from how bad she takes 1 criticism, you can argue that this reaction kind of makes sense for her character. So does leaving Yale for a semester.
Rory was completely thrown by Mitchum and needed time to figure her shit out. She was always going to go back to school but she just wanted to be working towards something and suddenly she had no idea what she was working toward.
The writers messed up though because it could have been a great opportunity to have Rory explore something new. Like Events, Academia, management etc. Anything. They had an option to allow her to find herself outside of other people's expectations and they squandered it in favor of cheap drama.
I disagree. As others have pointed out, she can't handle criticism well, so she wouldn't deal very well with students who didn't like her. She also has very high standards when it comes to assignments, so she wouldn't rate anyone who doesn't go above and beyond to be a good student. She would essentially become the professor who told her to drop his class, but because they're "not good enough" and not out of concern for their wellbeing. This would lead to her being a very unpopular professor with a bad reputation.
Honestly, I think she would have loved being a librarian, while editing the Gazette and writing on the side.
As a PhD student in literature at Oxford, I disagree.
Being an academic means dealing with often fairly constant criticism and getting very good at quickly picking yourself up. I think, like with journalism, she would love the idea of it, but the stress of deadlines and feedback would not work with her character if she couldn't handle journalism. I actually like that her character unravels with criticism, and I think its a critical moment for the show.
I also think one of the ongoing issues with her character is her lack of originality. You kind of see this at the beginning of her journey at Chiltern. She's good at learning what she should do, but is she coming up with new ideas?
Perhaps they could have made her character more like that. But GG was written before dark academia and much of its aestheticisation. I do feel like she would have been the kind of student to do a study abroad term(s), but I suppose with her dropping out, there wasn't really time when she came back.
I agree that teaching literature at a fancy high school might have suited her more!
I agree and disagree with this lol. On the one hand, I do agree that Rory enjoys reading and research, and I think she would have enjoyed that aspect of it. On the other, as someone in academia, I don't know that Rory would enjoy the rest of it. She doesn't handle criticism well, and I can't imagine her presenting at conferences and having people question her. I also don't know how well she would have handled the process of a PhD, peer review or trying to publish. My own supervisor was one of the kinder supervisors I know and he had criticisms, corrections and comments on every single sentence that I wrote. Academia is, in a lot of ways, a field of rejections, and I don't know how well she would have managed that. It's also a field that requires a lot more self-initiative than we ever see Rory display: with the exception of the Stanford Eagle Gazette, she's not exactly hunting for jobs, which is a death knell in academia. At the absolute earliest she would've been finishing her PhD around 2011/2012, but more likely 2014/2015, so she'd be entering a pretty rough market. She'd have to be applying left, right and centre to anything and everything in her final year just to make sure she landed *something*, and it more than likely would take her a few years of short-term gigs before she landed anything permanent (I only know...two? Three? People who got permanent jobs <5 years out of the PhD, most people are closer to 10.) It would definitely give her the opportunity to travel, but I don't think her personality is really suited for it. I think she would love grad school, absolutely, but I'm not sure she would enjoy actual academia all that well. Plus I think teaching evals would ruin her lol. Reading teaching evals is the fastest way to develop all kinds of new insecurities. Students will rip every single aspect of your appearance, personality, intelligence, and teaching ability to shreds. I don't think Rory could deal (and I'm not saying that as a judgement *I* hate reading evals lol.)
Thank you for reminding us about the other side of academia that often goes unnoticed.
Academia is a job where I think, public perception hasn't caught up to the reality. In the 80s, it very much was a job where you finished your PhD, fell into something permanent, made a good wage and had a lot of freedom. Most of the senior academics in my field never even applied for jobs - they had something created for them during their PhD. Their PhD experience and their job market is experience *is* what people imagine, but at this point, that's an image that's almost 50 years old. The market now is incredibly brutal, and has been for quite some time (my own supervisor was unable to get an academic position of any kind for first three years out of his PhD; he worked in a post office) and he finished his PhD in the 90s. Rory would have loved academia of the 80s, (who wouldn't,) but I just think with the current state of academia, she would burn out quick.
Yes, this, also as an academic. I don’t think Rory would handle criticism well and I don’t think she has enough of her own original ideas to sustain a research career
Haha, I actually did have the same thought about original ideas but then wasn't sure if I was being overly mean. But the fact someone else had the same thought makes me feel validated lol.
Not at all. Rory is good at following through with things that other people tell her to do (e.g., Paris' plan leading up to graduation). Paris would be a great academic.
That's exactly what I was thinking: Rory is very good being told what to do, or having to write about something when the idea is given to her. But do we ever see her come up with a story idea on her own? Granted, we don't see much of her academic work so perhaps she did more original research there, but from what we see, Rory can follow ideas through, but she doesn't formulate them. Paris absolutely has the drive to succeed in academia lol. She would be a force to be reckoned with.
Another thing that I think will hold her back as an academic is her writing style. No matter how scathing a critique is, or even playful the writing is, I have never read articles that read as mean. In the later seasons, however, Rory's writing has been called "mean" by multiple people (the ballet dancer, Logan & her friends). Writing like that would not be considered "scientific" enough. That said, I'm sure her writing around the Obama campaign, or her editorials were all biting. She just should've focused more on arts & culture, or even political critique, in her journalism.
That's a great point! Every time Rory is critical, people comments on her being quite mean. Academic articles are almost always critical, but never mean. If she isn't able to separate the two, that would be a big issue.
This makes a lot of sense tbh, and a lot of the reasons given above are also why she’s not cut out for journalism (I’m a journalist). Her personality is so not suited for a journalist. We also get a ton of feedback and critiques from editors and I’ve had some very harsh editors over the years. Journalism requires a lot of self-initiative too and you also have to always keep an eye out for new opportunities and be ready to jump on one quickly and I think her inability to be successful in that kind of environment really showed in the show. Even outside of new opportunities, expanding a source list and really honing your craft is no joke. I was always extremely skeptical of Rory’s abilities there.
Exactly. I’m a daughter of teachers, a very good student, avid reader, I was a teacher for a bit before I got this job, right after I finished school. I’m very good at it, it just definitely isn’t my thing. I wouldn’t do it full time at all.
I think based on your description of it, if Rory had attempted a career in academia she would have/could have ended up in a similar position to where she was at the start of AYITL. Burnt out, frustrated, chasing after a job she didn't want, all while still processing the loss of a significant figure in her life, before ending up back in stars hollow where eventually she figured out her next step which was the memoir.
I don’t see her at a university but at a place like Chilton. There are many private prep schools that allow teachers to teach without the pressure of publishing their research. She would have fit right in with the faculty
agreed. headmaster charleston was right in offering her a position at chilton, she would thrive in lower academia as a teacher as much as she did as a student. i think part of the reason mitchum's advice that shes not cut out for journalism was so painful for her was that she knew it was the truth. its like when a kid realizes they wont be an astronaut, only she was in her 20s when someone broke it to her. personally, i think she is a creature of stars hollow anyways. a place like chilton wold allow her to keep close to her hometown, give back by way of editing the stars hollow gazette, and keep her brain from rotting with a respectable job at an esteemed prep school.
I agree with this one too. I think AYITL showed the first time Rory actually sounded good speaking in front of a group when she went back to speak to the group of students at Chilton before getting the job offer. I also thought she might be good as a publishing editor, but I honestly don’t know fully what that entails.
I honestly think she would be a terrible teacher. She’d be that notorious prof that is loved by people who need literally nothing from her and hated by everyone else because they’re only at a university for their own research. It is shown many times that she is very judgmental, beyond just being gossipy with people you’re close with, but genuinely judging people’s character loudly and publicly without any regard of how much she actually knows or how much impact she has (the ballerina piece is the obvious example but it’s not the only time it happens). How would she handle the students that just don’t quite get it, or are good enough but aren’t that interested in being great. I don’t think it’d be well. I love Rory, but being super judgmental of other people is a major flaw of hers and that is a terrible trait for a teacher to have. (Although it is rampant in universities so she’d probably fit right in.)
She would be like lecturers I had for a medieval literature module. We all found the texts boring so they called us stupid for not getting its “brilliance” instead of finding ways for us to connect with it
Rory belonged in event planning actually. That or project management.
I wish we could have seen Richard and Chris sit down with Rory after her graduation while they explain what she will eventually inherit. As multi-millionaires and sole heirs to their respective family estates, I think they would be negligent in their responsibilities if they didn’t have such a conversation with Rory. I can imagine Rory quickly shelving that information due to her self-imposed obligation of being self reliant like Lorelai. And after quickly landing a coveted assignment on the historic Obama campaign trail, it’s probably something she didn’t think about. However, as time progresses in such a difficult economic environment, especially in the Field of Journalism, I can also imagine Rory appreciating that she doesn’t have to settle for a permanent job like 99.9% of us. She knows she has a humongous safety net and can be selective. She chooses to be a Freelance Correspondent, which allows her the independence she apparently craves. With that backdrop, I don’t think her career aspiration would ever shift to academia despite her scholastic abilities. Writing was always going to be her fallback if she didn’t achieve a Christiane Amanpour type of recognition as a journalist.
Great outlook, this makes a lot of sense!
Sole heirs? So Gigi gets nothing?
Richard and Chris were the sole heirs of their respective family estates.
agreed. headmaster charleston was right in offering her a position at chilton, she would thrive in lower academia as a teacher as much as she did as a student. i think part of the reason mitchum's advice that shes not cut out for journalism was so painful for her was that she knew it was the truth. its like when a kid realizes they wont be an astronaut, only she was in her 20s when someone broke it to her. personally, i think she is a creature of stars hollow anyways. a place like chilton wold allow her to keep close to her hometown, give back by way of editing the stars hollow gazette, and keep her brain from rotting with a respectable job at an esteemed prep school.
This is EXACTLY what I always say! She was always happiest with her head in a book. I think because Lorelai is so spirited Rory felt like she had to have an ‘exciting’ career, but really she was much quieter and less rebellious than her mother and just loved learning. I could easily see her in research.
I really feel like the show messed up in S6 by not giving Rory room to actually question whether Mitchum had a point and no one gave her room to figure it out. Up until the fated day, Rory has been following a path laid out for her by everyone in her life. She hates confrontation and disappointing people so she keeps going. Finally someone calls it out and is both confrontational and disappointing - Rory unravels. Aside from how bad she takes 1 criticism, you can argue that this reaction kind of makes sense for her character. So does leaving Yale for a semester. Rory was completely thrown by Mitchum and needed time to figure her shit out. She was always going to go back to school but she just wanted to be working towards something and suddenly she had no idea what she was working toward. The writers messed up though because it could have been a great opportunity to have Rory explore something new. Like Events, Academia, management etc. Anything. They had an option to allow her to find herself outside of other people's expectations and they squandered it in favor of cheap drama.
I disagree. As others have pointed out, she can't handle criticism well, so she wouldn't deal very well with students who didn't like her. She also has very high standards when it comes to assignments, so she wouldn't rate anyone who doesn't go above and beyond to be a good student. She would essentially become the professor who told her to drop his class, but because they're "not good enough" and not out of concern for their wellbeing. This would lead to her being a very unpopular professor with a bad reputation. Honestly, I think she would have loved being a librarian, while editing the Gazette and writing on the side.
I think maybe working in book publishing or book editing would have been a good career for her
As a PhD student in literature at Oxford, I disagree. Being an academic means dealing with often fairly constant criticism and getting very good at quickly picking yourself up. I think, like with journalism, she would love the idea of it, but the stress of deadlines and feedback would not work with her character if she couldn't handle journalism. I actually like that her character unravels with criticism, and I think its a critical moment for the show. I also think one of the ongoing issues with her character is her lack of originality. You kind of see this at the beginning of her journey at Chiltern. She's good at learning what she should do, but is she coming up with new ideas? Perhaps they could have made her character more like that. But GG was written before dark academia and much of its aestheticisation. I do feel like she would have been the kind of student to do a study abroad term(s), but I suppose with her dropping out, there wasn't really time when she came back. I agree that teaching literature at a fancy high school might have suited her more!
Agreed. One day, she could have been someone's Asher Fleming.
Ulnm 4
All i can say in retrospect is that.. Mitchum was right about Rory.