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reasonableman
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I read this article in my latest physicsworld (a publication of the institute of physics), thought it's quite relevant to many of the discussions here. If you're a IOP member you can read it here: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/2012/oct/04/the-academic-pyramid
Here's what the rest of you will see.
However a picture is worth a thousand words and the article is summed up by this image: http://imgur.com/8SOJX
Caption: Transition points in typical academic scientific careers following a PhD. Based on data from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Research Base Funders Forum and the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s annual “Destinations of leavers from higher education” survey. (Courtesy: Reused from The Scientific Century: Securing our Future Prosperity, by permission of the Royal Society).
It goes on to say:
So there you go 0.45% chance of becoming a professor...
Here's what the rest of you will see.
The Academic Pyramid
With the world economy struggling, physics graduates might be tempted to ride out the recession by doing a PhD or postdoctoral research. But as Margaret Harris reports, the academic sector has its own career problems.
However a picture is worth a thousand words and the article is summed up by this image: http://imgur.com/8SOJX
Caption: Transition points in typical academic scientific careers following a PhD. Based on data from the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Research Base Funders Forum and the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s annual “Destinations of leavers from higher education” survey. (Courtesy: Reused from The Scientific Century: Securing our Future Prosperity, by permission of the Royal Society).
It goes on to say:
For physicists, that 3.5% figure is probably a little low. Slightly older data collected by the Institute of Physics and the US National Science Foundation suggest that the fraction of physics PhD students who obtain permanent academic jobs has historically hovered between 10 and 20%. Yet even this higher number still indicates a yawning gap between the aspirations of early-career physicists and the realities of the academic job market. Indeed, according to an August 2012 survey carried out by the American Institute of Physics (AIP), nearly half (46%) of new physics PhD students at US institutions want to work in a university.
So there you go 0.45% chance of becoming a professor...
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