Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e36307. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036307. Epub 2012 May 2.
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.
尽管学术研究通常被视为受过博士培训的科学家的首选职业道路，但大多数美国毕业生还是选择进入工业界、政府部门或“其他职业”。人们越来越担心，这些职业模式反映了寻求学术职位的科学家的供应与这些职位的可用性之间存在根本失衡。然而，尽管政府统计数据提供了对实际职业转变的深入了解，但关于科学家职业偏好的数据却很少，因此，我们对观察到的职业道路与科学家偏好之间存在多大程度的不匹配知之甚少。此外，我们缺乏系统的证据表明职业偏好是否会在博士培训过程中发生调整，以及顾问通过鼓励学生追求学术职位在多大程度上加剧了这种失衡。基于对美国一流机构的博士生的全国性调查，我们深入了解了生命科学、物理学和化学领域初级科学家的职业偏好。我们还表明，尽管顾问强烈鼓励从事学术职业而不是非学术职业，但学术职业的吸引力在博士课程的过程中显著下降。我们的数据为劳动力市场失衡的普遍担忧提供了经验依据。我们的研究结果还表明，需要建立一些机制，为博士生申请者提供信息，使他们能够仔细权衡攻读博士学位的成本和收益，还需要建立一些机制，为顾问为其现有学生提供的就业市场建议提供补充。
