Originally Posted by DAD22
I do some recruiting for my company (engineers and computer scientists), and few things put me off more than a candidate that complains about a challenge. If you tell me that you ran from a challenge with your tail between your legs, your resume isn't going to be looked at again once you leave our booth.

I think that the article in the Times was too hard on students in some ways. There are students who drop out of science because they learn about 1) the lack of permanent academic positions, 2) the low pay structure (NIH postdoc salaries are $38K for first-year postdocs and top out at $53K for 7 years of experience, and 3) the extreme difficulty of getting a grant. For example, the average age of people getting their first R01 grant from NIH is well over 40. R01s are the meat and potatoes grants of the NIH.

Many people have to postdoc for years and years until they get a permanent job, if they get a permanent job. Try paying off your student loans on $38,000 or $40,000 a year. Try saving for a house or for tuition for your children. It's not really going to happen, so it's understandable that people who start looking ahead decide to bail out.

We have an underclass of scientists who can't get jobs. It's not their fault; there just aren't enough to go around. So they get stuck working as adjuncts at community colleges and elsewhere (f they're lucky). They don't get benefits, either. I don't really understand why we keep pushing young people into graduate degrees when the job prospects are so grim (and have been for at least 20 years). It's also very hard to get a job as a Ph.D. level scientist in industry, though it's easier than in academia.

And, as a nation, we're guilty of pushing people who may not be capable of earning these degrees into them anyway. Our national mantra of "everyone has to go to college" pushes people who would do better in other areas into science and other difficult programs. I have firsthand knowledge of well-meaning (?) programs that encourage students who failed high school or freshman biology to stay in the field. It's insane, and it's no wonder that they drop out. They aren't being lazy or running from a challenge. The courses really are too hard for them, and that's not their fault.