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This is just a list of the usual gripes about academia. It applies to almost every subject. Including Biology, which I work in. I like how the author explains t
by ImaCake 9y ago
This is just a list of the usual gripes about academia. It applies to almost every subject. Including Biology, which I work in. I like how the author explains the pyramid scheme of academia:
>The task of standing out is nearly impossible. Usually it comes down to informal factors, like having an influential advisor or coming from a “top program.” My school was ranked ~25–30ish (in the world) for its philosophy PhD program, and it would be polite to say most grad students struggled on the job market. “Struggling” doesn’t begin to describe the pain and anguish of sending hundreds of job applications and not landing a single interview. That’s not uncommon.
As a PhD dropout and research assistant in a large lab filled with overworked students, it hurts me to think about their futures. Because of my position I can't say much, but I would love for them to look around and take note of the ratio of post-docs to PhD students. If every lab has 5 students for each post-doc, then the odds can't be good.
- SiempreViernes 9y agoHappily (/s) by the time people are done with their PhD's many know not to continue and the odds improve. I think the over-subscription on PhD positions is far worse than the one on post docs, the latter in general being very specialised and so restricting the application pool.
- mseebach 9y agoI know it's not exactly a sympatic line of inquiry, but how good are you actually at philosophy, if you expect a philosophy degree from a 25-30-rank university to be a marketable credential? I agree fully that education for educations sake is valuable, but that line of argument generally explicitly rejects first class consideration of commercial applications. Just don't be surprised when there turn out to be no commercial applications (or very, very few, and those few getting snapped up by the top members of the field).
- pfortuny 9y ago25-30 in the World may possibly be first in most countries...
- SeanLuke 9y ago> This is just a list of the usual gripes about academia. It applies to almost every subject. I don't think he's talking about professorships, just research positions in general. My institution is ranked about 50th in the world in computer science. And basically all of our PhD graduates can get good research positions. There are PhD research subjects and then there are PhD research subjects.
- avoutthere 9y ago> Because of my position I can't say much... Of course you can. Maybe not at work, "on the record", but if there's a social gathering, you might, say, offer your view in a frank conversation about their future prospects.
- ImaCake 9y agoI can, and do. But I am mostly ignored by my friends and co-workers who are PhD students. All of the Postdocs I know seem to be far more aware of their situation.
- woodandsteel 9y ago>This is just a list of the usual gripes about academia. It applies to almost every subject. Including Biology, which I work in. No, it's far worse. For one thing, the people who do actually get professorships do very valuable research,at least a large proportion of them, whereas the philosophy professors are mostly doing junk. For another, there are lots of biology jobs in industry and government, but basically none outside academia.