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<p>But of course that still leaves open the question of what happens if you’re an MIT PhD student who isn’t in Langer’s lab or a similarly commercially productive one? Obviously only a small fraction of PhD students would want to engage in that type of research and even of those that do, not all will actually be invited. </p>
<p>Arguably the biggest concern is regarding those incoming PhD students who are aiming to research a highly theoretical topic with the aims of entering academia…but who then find that they can’t place in a desirable academic position. For many of them, the best academic placement they can obtain is a low-end post-doc at an unremarkable institute or a gypsy adjunct lecturership, either of which provides little opportunity for progression to academic tenure. They could find an industry research job, but most likely only an undesirable one because theoretical research is usually not commercially interesting. The other choice is to take a nice backup career in consulting or finance…but only if that choice is realistic, and is so only at certain schools. </p>
<p>To reiterate, if we could guarantee that everybody who completes their PhD at a top program will receive the job that they want - whether in academia or industry - then there would be no issue. Such a system obviously doesn’t exist. Plenty of such people will not be offered desirable jobs. Many people who want academic careers will indeed only be offered only non-tenure-track adjunct lecturerships. It therefore behooves everyone to carefully consider what alternative careers they can access via their university’s brand and network.</p>