The idea that getting a PhD is going to hurt your chances of getting an industry job is a misconception. In fact, most PhDs go on to get jobs in industry and most get paid more than non-PhDs in the same position. The only way a PhD will hold you back from getting an industry … Continue reading
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Why You Need to Leave Academia in 2015
Academia is broken. The time to leave it is now. If you don’t leave, you will be poor, mistreated, and unhappy. There’s a myth in academia, perpetuated by other (mostly unhappy) academics that says you can only be a successful PhD if you become a tenured professor and continue to publish in academic journals. This … Continue reading
Jackson State’s 2-Year Executive Ph.D. Program Marks 10 Years of Success
“Forward-thinking and visionary individuals who desire to be catalysts of change”—That’s the official description of the 167 graduates of the Executive Ph.D. program in urban higher education at Jackson State University, all of whom were honored this month at the 10th anniversary celebration of the program. Beyond the glowing words and glossy photos are the … Continue reading
Ph.D. Programs Should Change but Not Shrink, MLA Says
Humanities doctoral programs are under intense scrutiny. Policy makers, scholars, and the public have questioned whether universities should be producing so many Ph.D.’s in those fields, especially when the job market for tenure-track positions is tight. The Modern Language Association on Wednesday proposed a path forward for doctoral programs in literature and languages that calls … Continue reading
Ph.D. Students’ Anxiety Over Admitting Their Nonfaculty Aspirations May be Justified
Whenever I talk with graduate students about how to prepare for a nonfaculty job search, there is one topic about which they share varying degrees of anxiety: how, and when, to tell their Ph.D. advisers. Students who are determined to exit the academy are usually the least concerned about burning a bridge with their advisers. … Continue reading
On Privilege and the Ph.D.
I’m certainly not the first Ph.D. candidate who, with the end of graduate school in sight, has wondered: If I had to do it all over again, would I still pursue a doctoral degree? The answer? Yes. But what’s been on my mind lately is why that’s my unequivocal response. After all, I haven’t had … Continue reading
Where Have All the Ph.D.’s Gone?
It was good news to read that the Council of Graduate Schools, with the support of two major foundations, would be jumping into the fray over the issue of Ph.D. job placement. The council has announced that it will conduct a feasibility study to track the careers of Ph.D. graduates among its 500 member institutions. … Continue reading
The Cost of a Ph.D.: Students Report Hefty Debt Across Many Fields
A new crowdsourcing project provides an eye-opening glimpse into the hefty amounts of debt some graduate students take on to pay for their education and how hopeless many of them feel about their prospects for repaying it. “Given the rate at which interest is capitalizing, I will clearly never be able to pay off this … Continue reading
Once-Flourishing Economics Ph.D. Program Prepares to Die
For decades the Ph.D. program in economics at the University of Florida flourished. Highly regarded econometricians, like the late Henri Thiel and G.S. Maddala, taught there. Until the late 1990s, the department had been ranked among the top 20 of American public universities by prominent economics journals and associations. Now, the 71-year-old doctoral program, housed … Continue reading
Professor Van Ry 