a*****y
发帖数: 33185 | 1 What is a PhD really worth?
Peter Fiske1
Journal name: Nature
Volume: 472, Page: 381 Year published:(2011)
Published online 20 April 2011
In the past few months there has been a string of articles1, 2 in the
Western press about the poor career prospects of graduates from professional
schools, especially law school.
Thanks to a dismal job market, applications to such institutions surged
during the recession. Now, a few years later, those applicants are
graduating into a career market that is only slightly better — and many
have become saddled with debt.
Professional schools are now encountering the graduate-overproduction issues
with which PhD programmes have been wrestling for decades. Entry to law
school or medical school once provided a near-certainty of gainful (and
often highly lucrative) employment after graduation, but the alumni of these
programmes are now struggling to find their first jobs. Many are blaming
their graduate schools for promulgating misleading information about their
job prospects.
Sound familiar? In the late 1980s, the US National Science Foundation and
other groups spread the notion that a wave of retirement was about to sweep
through academia, and that the academic job prospects for emerging PhDs had
never been brighter. In fact, the economic assumptions that formed the basis
of this prediction were erroneous3, and no such wave of retirement took
place. In the early 1990s, PhD holders (including myself) spilled into the
job market with essentially no guidance on how to find employment outside
the ivory tower. The ensuing backlash from young scientists forced the
academic establishment to acknowledge that it was producing many more
scientific PhDs than it could accommodate in tenured positions. More
importantly, the establishment had to recognize that PhD scientists could
find satisfying and valuable careers outside academia. Although many
graduate-student scientists still have their hopes fixed on academic
positions, they are now also exploring a range of career options in industry
, government and the non-profit sector.
Lessons for life
The predicament of the current crop of law- and medical-school graduates
might give PhD students an opportunity for Schadenfreude. But I think that
young scientists — and the academic institutions from which they come —
can also learn from the dilemma faced by budding lawyers and physicians.
The first lesson is that quality matters. Most of the lamentation from law-
school graduates is coming from those who attended lower-ranked programmes.
Although there is ample evidence that the current mechanisms for ranking
graduate programmes are limited and problematic, there is nevertheless a
high correlation between the overall ranking of a programme and the
employment outcomes of its alumni. Therefore, prospective students should
shop carefully and ask for real data on the career paths of each programme's
graduates. In the United States, tools such as the Grad School Guide http://graduate-school.phds.org cast light on the actual quality and outcomes of specific graduate courses. And the US National Academy of Sciences has just released its latest ranking of doctoral programmes http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/resdoc/index.htm.
The second lesson is that debt is important — and this is where the
situation for science graduates deviates from that of medical and law
students. Although graduate students in the sciences essentially sign
themselves up for years of penury in university, nearly all US PhD
programmes, and many others around the world, provide stipends for their
researchers. PhD students may graduate with few possessions other than a
couple of boxes of books and some used Ikea furniture, but at least they do
not end up with a huge bill for years of tuition, as law and medical
students often do. Frugal science graduate students emerge with a very
important life lesson: money does not buy happiness (although it certainly
can make misery a lot more comfortable), and living frugally is better than
amassing tens of thousands of dollars of debt. Years spent with limited
income teach PhD-holding scientists how to be resourceful — and that can be
of enormous value throughout a career.
But I believe the most important lesson is that no programme of higher
education can guarantee its graduates gainful and lucrative employment. At
best, a graduate programme in any discipline can provide its students with
key skills, knowledge and abilities. How the graduates apply that learning
is up to them.
Broadened horizons
That being said, broader training would help graduates' chances. PhD
programmes in the sciences still overemphasize the academic track and
actively devalue other career paths. Expanding the PhD experience and
preparing holders of scientific doctorates to be successful in a range of
careers would not require a major overhaul of graduate programmes. Focused
seminars in areas such as communication, business basics and public policy
would go a long way towards strengthening the capabilities of PhD students
and improving their career prospects. Few academic programmes fully
appreciate the true potential that PhD training can confer, or the breadth
and depth of value that someone with a PhD can contribute to the world at
large; universities often believe that academia is still the most valuable
calling for their graduates.
Graduate students and postdocs are in the best position to organize
themselves and insist on such professional education as part of their
training. After all, they stand to gain the most. | y***n
发帖数: 1666 | | a*****y
发帖数: 33185 | 3 没有,这篇文章标题比较有趣,内容我没看,想贴在这里谁读完了给我个摘要
【在 y***n 的大作中提到】
: PhD同学你又纠结了？
| y***n
发帖数: 1666 | 4 大概看了下。大概是说博士博士后们不一定要挤破脑袋进academia，学术圈phd过剩，
高校没那么多tenure能散了，还总强调医学院和法学院。
让我们这些非医非法的情何以堪。
【在 a*****y 的大作中提到】
: 没有,这篇文章标题比较有趣,内容我没看,想贴在这里谁读完了给我个摘要
| a*****y
发帖数: 33185 | 5 看来nature上的文章也是老生常谈
【在 y***n 的大作中提到】
: 大概看了下。大概是说博士博士后们不一定要挤破脑袋进academia，学术圈phd过剩，
: 高校没那么多tenure能散了，还总强调医学院和法学院。
: 让我们这些非医非法的情何以堪。
| y***n
发帖数: 1666 | 6 这个Peter Fiske是stanford的PhD, berkeley的MBA。
有点像美版打了鸡血的成功学人士。
【在 a*****y 的大作中提到】
: 看来nature上的文章也是老生常谈
| a*****y
发帖数: 33185 | 7 你居然还会用打了鸡血这个词,不错
【在 y***n 的大作中提到】
: 这个Peter Fiske是stanford的PhD, berkeley的MBA。
: 有点像美版打了鸡血的成功学人士。
| y***n
发帖数: 1666 | 8 俺只会把这个词和成功学用在一起。。。
【在 a*****y 的大作中提到】
: 你居然还会用打了鸡血这个词,不错
| V*******n
发帖数: 534 | 9 悲观的想想, 人生来就受苦, 多苦点和少苦点有啥区别
professional
【在 a*****y 的大作中提到】
: What is a PhD really worth?
: Peter Fiske1
: Journal name: Nature
: Volume: 472, Page: 381 Year published:(2011)
: Published online 20 April 2011
: In the past few months there has been a string of articles1, 2 in the
: Western press about the poor career prospects of graduates from professional
: schools, especially law school.
: Thanks to a dismal job market, applications to such institutions surged
: during the recession. Now, a few years later, those applicants are
|
|
