I need to comment about going into academia. The end goal being to contribute to math/science in some meaningful way by working on theoretical research full ti

I need to comment about going into academia. The end goal being to contribute to math/science in some meaningful way by working on theoretical research full time. I'm in my 6th year of my PhD as a theoretical physicist. I have been rejected for ever prestigious fellowship and tenure track position I have applied for, my academic career is dead. As I finish my PhD I'll start applying for national lab and industry positions and likely end up right next to your nephew writing code somewhere. I will never contribute in any significant way to the world of theoretical physics. Do I regret it? Hell no! At least I tried! I loved so much of my graduate school experience and I got to try my hand at real research, teach huge classes of undergrads about my favorite topics and travel all over the country giving talks at conferences. I imagine going to graduate school is a lot like starting up your own business, its a high risk/reward situation. And if you do succeed you get huge grants, a tenure track position, and wonderful students to work with. Failure means going back to industry with the everyone else (is that so bad?). If I had skipped grad school and moved straight to industry (I've had multiple internships in the valley) I would certainly be much further ahead, both financially and in terms of job security. But I would have missed out on an important life experience and more importantly I never would have made my attempt to contribute to math/science.