<p>Academia or not? or something else?</p>
<p>Ideally, I'd go into academia, but becoming a professor is so difficult! so there might be another way, I just don't know how. maybe University of Manitoba or some university in Siberia (maybe that's a good reason to learn Russian).</p>
<p>A lot depends on what you want, your age, financial position, and so forth.</p>
<p>I'll be about 59 when I get my PhD and I figure I'll have about 20 years of active life left based on family history. My goals are almost entirely academic at that point - I already have a series of non-invasive archaeology projects visualized along with a couple of philological class ideas I'd like to develop based on some neglected authors. </p>
<p>To accomplish both sets of goals I'll need aposition at (ideally) a SLAC somewhere in Minnesota or Wisconsin (for family reasons). Even a couple adjunct positions to pay the bills while I work on publications would do the job. </p>
<p>I'm already debt free, have a decent amount in my 401(k) and I'm sitting on some pretty good equity in my house. So financially, I'm prepared - now I have to get that PhD and score the right job!</p>
<p>Wow, that's very interesting. </p>
<p>==</p>
<p>I wonder what the ratio of academic + non-professor positions to academic + professor positions is. I love learning more than anything else - and I'd ideally want to stay in academia if at all possible. Another concern is global warming (there are some studies that show that summer-time continental temperatures could rise as much as 10 degrees F) - hence why I'm thinking about the north cold areas.</p>
<p>I'd like to get a job after grad school.</p>
<p>Failing that, I'll probably do Navy OCS. And get a job anyway.</p>
<p>There are a lot of studies (and angst) about the (apparently) increasing use of adjunct and instructor positions in universities. The Chronicle of Higher Education would be the place to start digging into the topic I suppose.</p>
<p>Because of my age, and the fact that I'm in pretty good shape financially, I'm not as concerned with nailing down a tenure track position the minute I get my degree as someone younger with undergrad loans and no financial resources.</p>
<p>My goal is to contribute what I can and try to pass my enthusiasm on to as many kids as I can in the time I have left.</p>
<p>I'll definitely go into industry or work at a national lab and earn some decent $. I've been pretty poor all my life. I don't want to have to labor through academia to get a salary i could've gotten w/ a BS, not to mention the headache from bleak career prospects if i choose the academia route.</p>
<p>Definitely academia for me. I love being in university. I'd do anything to stay there.</p>
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Count me in on that plan.</p>
<p>After grad school, I want to be a postdoc. After that... well, that's too far in the future to be making any plans yet.</p>
<p>going back to high school and starting over again</p>
<p>never graduate</p>