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Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement

Even though academic research is often viewed as the preferred career path for PhD trained scientists, most U.S. graduates enter careers in industry, government, or “alternative careers.” There has been a growing concern that these career patterns reflect fundamental imbalances between the supply of...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sauermann, Henry, Roach, Michael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3342243/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22567149
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036307
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author Sauermann, Henry
Roach, Michael
author_facet Sauermann, Henry
Roach, Michael
author_sort Sauermann, Henry
collection PubMed
description Even though academic research is often viewed as the preferred career path for PhD trained scientists, most U.S. graduates enter careers in industry, government, or “alternative careers.” There has been a growing concern that these career patterns reflect fundamental imbalances between the supply of scientists seeking academic positions and the availability of such positions. However, while government statistics provide insights into realized career transitions, there is little systematic data on scientists' career preferences and thus on the degree to which there is a mismatch between observed career paths and scientists' preferences. Moreover, we lack systematic evidence whether career preferences adjust over the course of the PhD training and to what extent advisors exacerbate imbalances by encouraging their students to pursue academic positions. Based on a national survey of PhD students at tier-one U.S. institutions, we provide insights into the career preferences of junior scientists across the life sciences, physics, and chemistry. We also show that the attractiveness of academic careers decreases significantly over the course of the PhD program, despite the fact that advisors strongly encourage academic careers over non-academic careers. Our data provide an empirical basis for common concerns regarding labor market imbalances. Our results also suggest the need for mechanisms that provide PhD applicants with information that allows them to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of pursuing a PhD, as well as for mechanisms that complement the job market advice advisors give to their current students.
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spelling pubmed-33422432012-05-07 Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement Sauermann, Henry Roach, Michael PLoS One Research Article Even though academic research is often viewed as the preferred career path for PhD trained scientists, most U.S. graduates enter careers in industry, government, or “alternative careers.” There has been a growing concern that these career patterns reflect fundamental imbalances between the supply of scientists seeking academic positions and the availability of such positions. However, while government statistics provide insights into realized career transitions, there is little systematic data on scientists' career preferences and thus on the degree to which there is a mismatch between observed career paths and scientists' preferences. Moreover, we lack systematic evidence whether career preferences adjust over the course of the PhD training and to what extent advisors exacerbate imbalances by encouraging their students to pursue academic positions. Based on a national survey of PhD students at tier-one U.S. institutions, we provide insights into the career preferences of junior scientists across the life sciences, physics, and chemistry. We also show that the attractiveness of academic careers decreases significantly over the course of the PhD program, despite the fact that advisors strongly encourage academic careers over non-academic careers. Our data provide an empirical basis for common concerns regarding labor market imbalances. Our results also suggest the need for mechanisms that provide PhD applicants with information that allows them to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of pursuing a PhD, as well as for mechanisms that complement the job market advice advisors give to their current students. Public Library of Science 2012-05-02 /pmc/articles/PMC3342243/ /pubmed/22567149 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036307 Text en Sauermann, Roach. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Sauermann, Henry
Roach, Michael
Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement
title Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement
title_full Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement
title_fullStr Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement
title_full_unstemmed Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement
title_short Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement
title_sort science phd career preferences: levels, changes, and advisor encouragement
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3342243/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22567149
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036307
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