Re: jobs-hiring-grad school

John Steele - ISIS/Desktop QA Manager (JOHNS@MDLI.COM)
Tue, 7 Jun 1994 17:06:15 -0800

This discussion is very interesting. When I was an undergraduate, in
Chemistry, all the people studying social sciences were planning to go
to graduate school, not planning to get a job. (This was based on a
small sample, to be sure.) When I was in graduate school the social
scientists were planning to teach. (Based on an even smaller sample.)
My question is this: what sort of jobs are you guys hoping to get with
an anthro degree? If everyone is planning to teach it can only work
if there is an ever increasing number of new students and teachers, like
a pyramid scheme. Otherwise you will alway have an overabundance of
people looking for teaching jobs.

I hope this doesn't come across the wrong way. I am just curious about
your expectations. Chemistry, until about three years ago, had serious
funding from governments and industry. In the past few years there have
been thousands of layoffs and unemployment running about 4%, historically
very high for chemists. When I was in college, in the '80s, there
was no chance of not getting a job in industry. Now things have changed.