<p>Pea, no one is expecting to become rich. The author is pointing out that many PhD’s have found they cannot make a living wage within their field.</p>
<p>But why the comparison to HVAC maintenance and repair? It seems to me that kind of career, (HVAC maintenance and repair), comes with it’s own downside.</p>
<p>Part of the problem, it seems to me, is that more people would like to be in academics than there is room for. So part of the job of graduate programs is to thin out the numbers so they are more proportional to the needs of the market.</p>
<p>If someone with a PhD can’t make a living wage then it is time to do something else. They just need to work as hard at that something else as they did at getting their doctorate.</p>
<p>I work in academia and I think it is appalling the way that some graduate programs conceal the dismal job prospects from prospective students. Young people are optimistic, and most think that they will be one of the lucky ones to land a tenure track position. It is the responsibility of the programs they are applying to to publish actual job placement figures. For every tenure track position that opens up, hundreds of resumes come in. Furthermore, for those grad students who are not fully funded, they come out of their programs with a lot of debt, and teaching as an adjunct at meager wages doesn’t come close to allowing them to pay down any debt.</p>
<p>@Pea: The question remains whether someone who has spent 5 to 8 years in a PhD program, in the meantime foregoing income and job experience, is going to be in as good a position at age 28-30 (when they find themselves without a stable academic appointment) or age or 35-37 (when they are denied tenure or are unable to achieve a tenure-stream appointment) as someone who has identical intellectual talent and curiosity but began a career outside of academia at age 22.</p>
<p>Yes, graduate schools weed out students who don’t have the right stuff, but there’s a lot of wastage (human damage, in my opinion) if the attrition rates are really high, or the hoped-for job doesn’t materialize after the degree. And the opportunity costs (foregone income and experience gained) of failing in a PhD program as opposed to starting a career at age 22 outside of academia can be quite substantial.</p>
<p>I still think an academic career is fine IF YOU MAKE IT. It is definitely a long-hour job (with indeterminate working hours, really). There is a grain of truth in that old joke about UC Berkeley faculty only being able to succeed in two out of the following three things: research, teaching, and staying married. But you can get a lot of satisfaction out of this kind of career, whether you’re mainly interested in teaching or research. I had some alternatives when I chose doctoral studies rather than law school (turning down acceptances at some of the best in the country). I’ve never regretted my decision. But I’ve also, I suppose, had some luck along the way.</p>
<p>I recall a conversation about careers with my son after his freshman year in college. He told me that becoming an academic would be easy – that is, an easy career choice – because he knew what it involves. He had all of the intellectual power and drive that would make him a success in grad school and beyond. But he also thought academic careers were “boring.” (Not mainly a comment on me, I think.) He preferred to live the life of the mind without the constraints of an academic context or being tied down to living in a certain location where his “career” had to be made. I thought his choice was risky. But in fact he’s doing very well in an intellectual career outside of academia. I think there’s almost an infinite variety of such careers to be made by the intellectually curious and creative person. </p>
<p>In sum, I think more “prospective PhD’s” (“life of the mind” types) should think through their career options before locking up their 20’s in a graduate program.</p>
<p>I think that a lot of Ph.D. programs conceal the dismal placement statistics because they need graduate students to act as cheap labor: TAs. As university budget shrinks, there is more reliance on adjuncts and TAs.</p>
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<p>Believe me, someone who is 28 - 30 with an advanced degree is going to be looked upon more favorably by an employer than someone who is 22 and straight out of college. As far as foregoing the income, I’ve said all along that if you want to make money don’t go into academics.</p>
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<p>I don’t consider someone who exits graduate school with a Masters degree rather than a doctorate to have failed.</p>
<p>Life is bumpy. How many of us really embark on a career at 22 and sail along until retirement. There are worse things you can do with your time than spend it in graduate school.</p>
<p>@Pea: I don’t want to belabor my own family’s example, but you assume an “employer” is making a judgment based on a credential rather than proven talent and achievements. (My son is self-employed and at age 32 is making twice my income [which is a pretty good one]. He earned a BA in economics at a very good school, and has used his creative skills in a variety of fields since graduating 9 1/2 years ago. He doesn’t need a PhD for anything.)</p>
<p>Further, the concern that motivated this thread is that in some fields in the humanities only a minority (perhaps a small minority) of those who enter a PhD program are likely to end up in the academic career to which they aspire. As I said, academia is a fine career if you make it. But if the odds are stacked 2 to 1 or worse against your making it even if you have a PhD (it’s that bad in many of the humanistic fields), then you’d better plan on looking at alternatives early, before you fix on an academic career.</p>
<p>To be sure, in many fields (especially scientific fields) a PhD is the only or best way to build the knowledge and credentials needed to “practice” in the real economy. But in many creative or intellectual fields it’s not. I named a few in my previous post.</p>
<p>The operative question that motivated this thread is what should you be spending your time and energy on at, say, age 22-30 if you’re interested in the arts and humanities: getting a PhD along with a lottery chance of a successful academic career (with the odds differing greatly by field of specialization); or looking for other ways to make a career that uses your creative talent (also with uncertainty about the best paths to take).</p>
<p>Back in the late 1970s, I had a friend who was a newly minted economics Ph.D. from one of the country’s top program and was in her first year of teaching at a prestigious LAC. Her younger brother graduated summa from Harvard as an economics major and was offered a job at a Wall Street firm at a starting salary exceeding his sister’s. She was amused rather than resentful. She is still in academia, and quite happy about it.</p>
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<p>Well, Pea, there is nothing wrong with choosing to stay in the kitchen and yet point out “gosh, it’s hot in here”.</p>
<p>I think there are times when a PhD scares off employers. It can be intimidating to interview a PhD if you aren’t one. One can think that the PhD will want more salary, more benefits, a bigger office than the BS or MA candidate. Not necessarily true, but sometimes it is the perception that counts.</p>
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<p>No one said it was. But it’s a significant stressor for couples in academia. Something gets sacrificed. Someone takes the less desireable job, or leaves academia, or the couple ends up living in different states. Or divorcing. PhD students know they’re not going to be wealthy, but they generally don’t anticipate that they might have to choose between their career and their relationship. </p>
<p>HVAC refers to Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning. I figured that out using the mad research skillz I learned in grad school. 
The comparison was more on an economic basis, but some people find greater intellectual stimulation and feelings of accomplishment in all kinds of fields, even after they’ve been living the life of the mind. [Why</a> I Got A PhD In Political Philosophy And Then Became A Motorcycle Mechanic](<a href=“http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-why-i-got-a-phd-in-political-philosophy-and-then-became-a-motorcycle-mechanic-2009-5]Why”>Why I Got a PhD in Political Philosophy and Then Became a Motorcycle Mechanic)</p>
<p>All of my fellow Ph.D. students found great jobs and have enjoyed good productive professional lives (can’t comment on their personal lives). There will be jobs for those willing to excel, that is, put in the extra work, study, and intellectual activity needed for a good position. The Baby Boom professors will be retiring en-mass, positions will be opening up, knowledge will be created and the life of the mind will prevail as it always has for those who commit to it.</p>
<p>But as the Baby Boomers retire, will they be replaced?</p>
<p>^^ they will be, and are being replaced by adjunct profs. because they cost U’s much less to employ.</p>
<p>This is news? I had dinner with a cousin’s son and his GF last weekend. He is completing his PhD at MIT in something in the Molecular Biology/Genomics/Computational Biology realm (not sure where he ended up) and his GF is completing her PhD at Harvard in the humanities. He’s going to get a post-doc by calling labs that do similar work and asking if there would be a good fit. It doesn’t hurt he’s probably in the best place in the country (or one of them). His GF was lucky/deserving enough to get an interview at one of THREE jobs in North America in the field. Probably hundreds of applicants from the last three or four cohorts will beat the doors down. I think she was pretty aware when she went into it, although I suspect that three in the continent might be a little less opportunity than even she expected.</p>
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<p>As a non-humanities PhD who now runs a business, I probably would see a humanities PhD as mixed bag. Probably possesses reasonably high IQ and the ability to write. But, probably a bias for pondering and minimal sense of urgency (some will be able to learn) and possibly a tendency to obfuscate.</p>
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I think this is precisely what the author was questioning. His point was that there are no longer good positions available for the vast majority of applicants, even the outstanding ones.</p>
<p>Problem is if one wants an academic career, a PhD is the only route. No matter how difficult a get, the credential is the ticket in the lottery.</p>
<p>If someone can say, “I can fore go that,” well great.</p>
<p>Teaching college English was my dream. Family tried to force me into law school. I went for the degree and got the job. If I hadn’t, I would still have been pleased to have tried.</p>
<p>An informed decision is always best, but sometimes it’s just not possible to make decisions in a practical, detached way. As Pascal said, “the heart has reasons reason doesn’t know.”</p>
<p>Had I not gotten the credential I KNOW I would not have ended up with an academic job.</p>
<p>Now I have a kid who is turned on only by studying Greek and Latin literature. Sigh. I have to tell him to go for it because that’s not only where his heart is, that’s where he works hard, shows initiative and really participates.</p>
<p>His job prospects are not good. My hope is that a long the way he develops himself enough to translate learned skills into more practical pursuits should that prove necessary. He knows not to pay for an advanced degree in classics.</p>
<p>On the other hand, D was to be a lawyer, and also for love, not practical concerns. I am just as worried by the idea she may incur debt that is crippling to pay back. Society is filled with unemployed and underemployed lawyers right now.</p>
<p>I guess if she ends as a taxi driver lawyer, so be it. </p>
<p>I would not encourage young people to give up before they’d even started.</p>
<p>Well, there is a demand for Latin teachers in high schools (not for Greek, though). I know our high school felt very lucky to be able to hire two Latin teachers to replace the one who’d just retired. The two were necessary because of the increased demand for Latin, which I saw for myself when I realized how many sections of Honors III and non-Honors III Latin there were. In fact, some of the students who should have been in Honors III were shunted to the non-Honors class because of scheduling conflicts, but they covered the same materials.</p>
<p>I enjoyed reading the comments below the article from people in academia. It seems that the current graduate students who posted are going in with their eyes wide open.</p>
<p>Thanks, marite. I think the boy is thinking of that. Love is love. I would not discourage him. It would like crushing his spirit in a vise.</p>