<p>I know the prospects to be an academic in the humanities are pretty much dismal, and the highest are in the sciences. How about in the social sciences? My impression is that departmetns like Economics have the highest prospects. What do you think?</p>
<p>I would think that sciences like biology, physics, chemistry etc. would have about the same or only slightly more demand than areas like English, History, Political Science etc. All those disciplines are very academic in nature and don’t have very good prospects outside education and academia.</p>
<p>I’d think most of the demand would come from areas like computer science, engineering, business, and other vocational subjects where there are a lot of high paying jobs outside of academia.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-4.html</a> may give you a hint: those majors where graduating students have better job and career prospects outside of academia are likely those where academic jobs are easier to get.</p>
<p>I can contribute one data point. Many universities had a hard time filling positions in statistics this year. We had a failed search and have heard that this has happened in a lot of places.</p>
<p>I said “TO BE AN ACADEMIC.” I’m not asking about prospects outside academia, but just prospects in academia. And so I would disagree with Harvest, cause sciences need more research assistance than the social sciences, so they should have more positions to fill.</p>
<p>UCBAlumnus, I don’t agree with that reasoning. For example, it’s possible the fields with more outside prospects also turn out significantly more phds in that field, so it balances out.</p>
<p>I understand that you said “to be an academic” and that was the focus of my response. I think that better job prospects outside academia will lead to more demand for jobs within academia. </p>
<p>Imagine you are a computer science major. You graduate with a bachelors and have a number of high paying job offers. Are you more likely to take one of those jobs or continue with many more years of expensive schooling to obtain an academic job that is more difficult to find and pays less? </p>
<p>Then, imagine you are a biology major. After graduation you realize that the only jobs open to you are low paying lab tech positions. So, you pursue more education with the intention of working in academia.</p>
<p>As I said in my previous post. I do think the sciences would have a slight advantage over social sciences…but only slightly. Yes, the sciences need more research assistance but most of those positions are filled by graduate students and not full time professionals.</p>
<p>Sorry, I misunderstood. But still, I dont agree with the reasoning. You are assuming that each field attracts the same number of students, that they have the same graduation rate, and that all fields have the same number of total positions (filled + unfilled), and that each degree has a specific set of fields when in fact they overlap.</p>
<p>I think you are mislead regarding research in the social science fields. A lot of it depends on funding and enrollment demand. If the funding for a department is not there, they lose out on research. Its not that the science fields do more research, its dependent upon the money they get to do that research. Lots of research goes on in Psychology, Sociology, etc. On the flip side, some departments will accept more graduate students and give them woefully inadequate funding. And those student probably won’t find jobs after graduating.</p>
<p>And if a department is decreased in size, they will lose funding and prestige. So it may seem like certain fields are in demand by enrollment capacity when in reality, its just the politics of the academic department-they are trying to keep up with appearances.</p>
<p>I don’t see why there’s a problem with Harvest888’s logic. Why would a person want to spend years earning a PhD in engineering when it is virtually a waste of time when you can work in the industry and make much more with a just a master’s degree? Most Engineering, Nursing, Accounting graduates go on to work in the industry, not in academia. You can make much more of a substantial income in the industry in those fields. In addition, it depends on your geographical location and where you pursue your graduate studies. </p>
<p>You must also consider that in this economy, a lot of schools refuse to hire professors on tenure and a lot of professors, even with Ph.D.s, can only get adjunct, associate or lecturer positions. There’s a lot of politics in academia. More and more universities are using grad students and adjuncts to teach.</p>
<p>I am a graduate student right now and from talking with my professors, interdisciplinary studies are becoming more and more popular-i.e. cognitive sciences. It is a current academic trend for disciplines to cooperate in solving problems, building models and extrapolating theories as opposed to being at odds with each other. The emphasis on technology has also mediated this movement towards interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary projects.</p>
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<p>A large part of it is the type of work you’ll be doing. With a PhD you have a much better chance of doing R&D type work, leading a group, and making the decisions about what needs to be done. With the MS, in many companies, it’s harder to get to that position.</p>
<p>Right, sorry I meant that as more of a question to explain the point I was making. The majority of people getting a PhD in engineering know they want to teach or have some sort of plan that necessitates a PhD, while most engineers in the industry don’t go beyond the master’s level because it wouldn’t make sense to invest all the time and money relative to income level (unless, as you stated, they want to go further in R&D and need to get a higher level degree).</p>
<p>A lot of colleges in my area are having difficulties filling positions in the nursing departments. One very large state university is currently not accepting new nursing students indefinitely because they do not have enough staff to fill their curriculum. I guess if you’re doing an advanced degree in nursing, a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant earn as much, if not more than a professor of nursing, and require less schooling than a PhD (although nurses with masters degrees can teach as well, but again, will likely earn more working in the field).</p>
<p>Social work and business.</p>