Myths About the Academic Job Market

I'm sure that many of you reading here also read After Academe's excellent blog; however, today I am urging you to go over there immediately and read the most recent post, entitled "5 Myths About the Academic Job Market."

As I wrote in comments over there, this post should be required reading for all aspiring and enrolled graduate students. The simple fact is that these myths are widespread (if not universal) in academia ... and while they may seem harmless and innocent to perpetuate, they are not. If you ask me, they are at this very minute contributing to damaging the futures of hundreds (if not thousands) of promising young students who work their butts off in graduate school, sure that all of that hard work and dedication will lead to happiness and success in academia.

Your Chances on the Job Market - Myth/Reality #5

I haven't done one of these myth/reality posts in awhile, but came across something today that reminded me of one I've been meaning to briefly discuss.


Myth: As long as you don't shoot too high (for example, trying to get a job at Harvard when your Ph.D. is from a low-ranked regional university), you have a decent shot at getting any job you apply for.
Reality: A not-insignificant number of academic jobs posted on job banks will either not be filled, or are reserved for a designated candidate.

I've mentioned earlier that some institutions will post faculty jobs, only to ultimately cancel their searches. So you'll spend hours or even days carefully crafting an application packet for a particular job listing, only to ultimately learn that the search was cancelled and the search committees never so much as brought people out for interviews. Indeed, it's not clear whether anyone at those institutions even looks at the application packets they receive.

Don't believe me? Go look at some of the job market rumor mill blogs out there for the past few years, or the job market forums at the Chronicle of Higher Education. It happens all the time.

Along with the cancelled search, though, a certain percentage of the jobs that you will carefully construct applications for will be listed only because universities are often required by law to post public job listings for positions that are not really available to the public.

Should You Go to Graduate School?

I mentioned in the last post that recently I've had a number of people ask me for my opinion on whether others should go to graduate school. Two weekends ago, I ran into the younger brother of a former high school friend, who said that my career change had him second-guessing his goal of pursuing a Ph.D. And last weekend, an intern at my partner's company asked me for advice because she is considering going to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in the same field I'm in right now. Every now and then, I get emails from people looking for information about our graduate program and asking whether they should go to grad school.

Well.

First of all, clearly I'm biased. I've become very disillusioned and disappointed recently, and thus am undoubtedly more cynical about whether someone should go to graduate school than the average person.

On the other hand, though, I think that some cynicism is appropriate. I think that college faculty are far too eager to encourage their undergraduate students to pursue graduate degrees. And the public in general knows so little about the nature of academic jobs and the state of the job market that young people who are considering graduate school get very little useful advice about whether they should go to grad school.

I know that for me, there was never any practical discussion of what the academic job market looked like, or indeed what a career in academia would look like. I was young and naive, and had no idea that working in X field would be different than studying it in college. And my parents unquestioningly encouraged me, saying that "more education is always good."

I'm certainly not blaming any of those people - my parents or my undergraduate advisors - for the position I'm in now. I was an adult, and could have done my own research.

But that's the thing. Rather than encouraging potential grad students to do careful research, we just continue encouraging promising students to apply to graduate school as if future jobs and happiness are guaranteed. And that would be fine, if graduate school were like a normal job.

But it's not. What these kids will experience is (likely) a move to a different part of the country, social isolation from people outside academia, very low pay and few benefits, and very likely a lack of discussion of any career options outside the academy.

So ... do I think people should go to graduate school?

Well ... maybe. I certainly don't think people shouldn't go, if they're excited about it and sure it's what they want.

However, I do think they need to make sure their decision is a well-informed and practical one. So along those lines, I have some advice for anyone considering pursuing graduate education (in any field, but particularly in the humanities and social sciences).

Academia - It's Where You Read/Write/Think about "Anything!" - Myth/Reality #4

Myth: You should get a Ph.D. because then you can spend your life reading and writing about a wide variety of things that interest you.
Reality: Not exactly ... at least not for a large chunk of your working life.

I was one of the people who went to graduate school because I loved reading, writing, and thinking about ideas (broadly defined), and loved my discipline.

In short, I was the kid who went to graduate school because I loved college, and wanted "more college." More learning. More reading and writing. I was barely even thinking about a future career, other than some vague ideas that I'd like to teach. Really, though, I just wanted to keep going to college.

All of the Smart People are at Universities - Myth/Reality #3

Myth: If you want to be around smart, interesting people who like to talk about complex ideas and know a lot about world events, art, culture, literature, politics, etc., you should stay in academia. People outside academia don't care about things like that.
Reality #1: There are smart people everywhere.
Reality #2: There are stupid and uninteresting people in academia.

Workload and Free Time - Myth/Reality #2

Myth: An academic schedule is flexible, so you will have unlimited time to pursue your own interests, and can work when you want.
Reality: The fact that you have no defined work hours means that it is far too easy to spend all of your time: working, pretending to work, feeling bad that you aren't actually working, feeling guilt about how much work you still have to do and knowing that since you have no defined work hours you could be working right now, you slacker.

The Nobility of Academic Work - Myth/Reality #1

Myth: Academic work is inherently noble and meaningful.
Reality: This is true, but only if you enjoy it.

That's really all I have to say about this one, but it needs to be said.

Producing original research, setting your own (often indefinite and ongoing) work hours, and teaching future generations is a noble calling, and an honorable thing to do. It's hard, and it's frustrating, and it definitely has its own rewards.

But if you don't like it - if you don't like teaching, or writing academic research, or writing grant proposals, or having a lot of unscheduled time - well, it doesn't matter how noble or meaningful it is. You will be miserable.

And you shouldn't stay in any position, no matter how noble and meaningful, if it's making you miserable.

It's okay to leave a job. Even a noble and meaningful one.

Introducing the Myths/Realities Series

One thing that I would like to do with this blog is to detail some of the myths and realities inherent in academia.

These may be things that we may enter graduate school thinking it will be like, only to be confronted with the cruel reality later.

These may be things that our advisors tell us, without understanding that the reality of academia has changed over time.

These may be aspects of graduate school and academia that we are told are noble and true, but may in fact make some of us very miserable even if they are true.

These are the myths and realities of academia, as I see them.