Will My PhD Topic Restrict My Career Options and Are Australian Universities Well-Regarded Globally?

[jt2012]

I have been offered a PhD at a TOP institution. The problem is, it is in rather an applied field. I am also waiting upon an offer from ANU (Australian National University) in a fundamental topic. Both are world recognised universities, though the former is of the top few. My worry is that I will be pigeon-holed after my PhD and be very restricted in what I can do after. My question is: how much does our PhD tie you down to the project you study, and are Australian universities well regarded to the extent that do their graduates get positions in world-leading institutions, such as those in the US and Europe?

 

[jt2012]

Forgot to mention: I am perhaps more interested in the more fundamental side of things, as I believe this might lead to more exciting Physics as well as opportunities. I am an experimentalist

 

[twofish-quant]

My worry is that I will be pigeon-holed after my PhD and be very restricted in what I can do after.

You will be.

My question is: how much does our PhD tie you down to the project you study, and are Australian universities well regarded to the extent that do their graduates get positions in world-leading institutions, such as those in the US and Europe?

To first order, you are doomed.

General advice is don't expect on getting a research professorship after the Ph.D. The jobs are so few and the number of qualified applicants are so many, that you are doomed. The thing to do is to google for the "rumor mill" of the field that you are in.

But knowing that you are doomed can be strangely liberating. If it's the situation that you aren't going to get the job no matter what you do, then you are free to do what you want.