Cynicism and the academic market March 25, 2014
Posted by mareserinitatis in career, grad school, research, work.Tags: academia, career, tenure
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I recently had someone ask what I was planning to do after I graduated. I’ve had this question asked of me before. When I responded, “I’m interested in a tenure track position,” I have, more often than not gotten the “Yeah right. Let me know how that works out for you” response. Not in so many words, of course.
This time, however, I responded that I was interested in a TT position, and added that I knew it was highly unlikely. The reaction to that was, “Not necessarily.”
I was appreciative of the comment because I think, without reading too much into it, it was meant to be encouraging. However, I still have to stick by my stance that it’s pretty unlikely, mostly because I think it’s not best to be wed to the idea.
The data seems to back me up on this one. There was a study done on those who make it into TT positions in political science, and the conclusion is that there are very select schools from which everyone is trying to hire. I don’t have any direct info for my field, but this seems like a reasonable proxy. The conclusion is that 20% of TT hires come out of a half dozen elite colleges. And as your school goes down in ranking from there, so do your chances of getting hired. I’ve also seen numbers, at least for physics, that only 1 in 10 grads finds a TT spot.
Just looking at these numbers makes me think that I would be rather stupid to count on getting a TT spot. So as much as people may want to be encouraging (and I do appreciate it), it seems like I should try to stay pragmatic and keep in mind that there is life after academia.
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That sounds about right. There’s a geology department here in MN, for example, whose faculty is all from Stanford; but on the other hand that could be merely the result of cronyism. I’ve also seen cases where someone with a degree in “basket weaving” from a low-ranking program has gotten a TT at a much-higher school, leaving those who have “paid their dues” scratching their heads. In their “Alumni News,” schools will tout their occasional success in placing a TT as a “refutation” of “gloomy views,” but let’s face it, schools need to process as large a herd (excuse me, I meant “cohort”) as possible or their own faculty positions could be in jeopardy.