Advice for graduating physics majors

[jedishrfu]

Recent job stats for Physicists.

http://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.3763?dm_i=1Y69,5AULR,DQ3L1A,KGE7I,1&

It says only 5% of physics BS grads ever become college profs.

 

[kuruman]

Last time I looked, about 13-14% of Ph.D. grads ever become college profs. That's the market. When I got my Ph.D., in the mid-seventies, college prof jobs were hard to come by, almost non-existent. There was a job bust after the boom of the sixties when departments expanded because of the race to the Moon. Hiring is limited by retirements. A 2008 AIP study https://www.aip.org/sites/default/files/statistics/faculty/fac-turnover-pa-08.pdf estimated an annual retirement rate of 2.5%. So 5% hiring is not unreasonable considering that people leave before retiring for a better job, are denied tenure, etc. etc.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Last time I looked, about 13-14% of Ph.D. grads ever become college profs.

Which is entirely consistent with 5% of physics BS grads.

That said, shouldn't this advice be for people before graduation?

 

[kuruman]

That said, shouldn't this advice be for people before graduation?

It should. At least I made it available when I advised students who aspired to an academic career.

 

[StatGuy2000]

@Vanadium 50 , @kuruman , if around 13-14% of physics PhD grads become college/university professors (I'm assuming this would include both tenure-track work as well as adjunct positions, and also make no distinction between schools with a teaching vs research focus), then the question I would have is, what happens to the other 86-87% of graduates?

Yes, I am aware that a certain proportion of PhD graduates will work as postdocs, but postdoctoral work is by definition temporary. So what is the breakdown (to your knowledge, based on the latest statistics you are both aware of) of those physics PhD graduates who do not work in academia?

 

[Vanadium 50]

what happens to the other 86-87% of graduates?

Industry.

I'm not sure what you mean by "breakdown". Job titles? Parent company sector?

 

[kuruman]

Yes, I am aware that a certain proportion of PhD graduates will work as postdocs, but postdoctoral work is by definition temporary. So what is the breakdown (to your knowledge, based on the latest statistics you are both aware of) of those physics PhD graduates who do not work in academia?

You will find such information at this AIP site and the links mentioned therein.
https://www.aip.org/statistics/reports/whos-hiring-physics-phds

 

[StatGuy2000]

Industry.

Obviously. What I'm asking is which industry sector?

I'm not sure what you mean by "breakdown". Job titles? Parent company sector?

As in my reply above, which industry sector do physics PhD graduates who don't work in academia work in, and what percentages. (e.g. oil & gas, software, finance, etc.) For example, here in Toronto, Canada (where I'm based), most physics PhD graduates that I know of (who don't work in academia and who did not specialize in medical physics) work for the major Canadian banks as quants.

 

[Vanadium 50]

https://www.aip.org/statistics/employment/phds has quite a lot of information, but probably not as fine-grained as you would like. For example, "energy" and "aerospace" are not separate categories.