Things to Negotiate in an Academic Job Offer

If you have to kiss the chair's ring,
you're doing it wrong.

Eventually everyone will be faced with a time when they have a job offer and must decide what (if anything) to try an negotiate for.  Having done this recently myself, this is a list of things you may want to consider.  Not all of these I negotiated for myself, and not all of the things I negotiated for were granted, but I don't think you should ever accept an offer with at least trying to negotiate a little.  Remember, you're not asking for 'favors,' you're asking for things that will make you happier with the offer and may help you do your job better.

Salary:

The is the obvious one.  This depends a lot on the department/college/university in question.  Some have flexibility to bump salary up a lot, some have a little wiggle room (a couple thousand extra), and some simply have no ability (or desire) to change the initial salary offer.  Some have union contracts that specify a specific amount or range for hires, some simply have no additional money for the position, and some are facing serious salary compression issues.  If the department is making multiple hires at once, they may not be able to negotiate all that much if they have to make all other offers equivalent.  Similarly, if they already have someone who accepted X a month ago, they are probably not going to want to give you X + Y if you're being hired at the same level, especially if they would be forced to also provide Y to their already-accepted hire.

If you choose to negotiate/ask for a higher salary, you will probably be better served if you can justify it with comparisons to other (comparable) institutions' salary structures, cost of living differences (especially if you currently have a position/salary), other offers you may have in hand, etc.

You don't want your colleagues
to see you as this guy...

This is, for me at least, the most tricky thing to ask about, as you can easily come off as naive or greedy if you ask for too much.  Further, if you end up jumping ahead of your more senior colleagues due to salary compression, then you can come into the department with bad blood already stacked up against you.  On the other hand, if you get low-balled, and the next year a new hire negotiates for more than you did, you'll feel like you missed an important opportunity and/or that you're being taken advantage of.



In my opinion its best to figure out what the lowest amount you would accept (which might be the initial offer amount), and ask for a reasonable amount over that.  What a 'reasonable amount over that' is really depends on the situation.  I've heard estimates from people that 10% more is reasonable to request at first, 5% more, $5k more, $2k more, etc.  It really depends on your own situation, and (perhaps more importantly) your reading of the situation.  Just remember that every extra dollar in salary will be an extra dollar you get year after year after year, so even a 'modest' increase can add up to a down payment on a house in a few years.

Summer salary or teaching:

Relatedly, if you're in a research-focused department, you might request a month or two of summer salary (or if they're rich and generous, multiple years' worth of summer salary).  This would help you keep focused on your research over the summer (if only for the guilt of getting the extra pay), and may help keep you from picking up additional classes to teach over the summer, thus giving you even more time to work on research.  Some R1/R2 institutions might offer a month or two of summer salary, but more than one summer's worth, at least from what I've seen/heard anecdotally in the sociology/criminology field, seems to be pretty rare.

Alternatively, you might ask to be guaranteed an opportunity to teach over the summer, if that's your department's 'thing.'  A couple of additional courses taught over the summer could, again, be a down payment on a house after a couple years.  If you have the option to teach an already prepped online course, the amount of work you have to put into the summer course could be very reasonable compared to teaching a brand new prep and/or an in-person course.

Teaching load:

While the long term teaching load is likely fixed (2/2, 3/3, etc.), your first semester/year you might be able to get a course reduction (more than that seems quite rare).  You should phrase this negotiation point in terms of the course release(s) helping you to establish your research agenda, write a grant, etc.  If you're in a teaching heavy institution, this is probably less likely to fly, but it might be worth a shot.  In either case, you can also look into setting up a nice course prep schedule (see below).


Course preps:

Depending on the expectations and flexibility of your department, you might request to teach multiple sections of the same course the first semester or year.  This would be a huge benefit in terms of not having to prep multiple courses, especially the first semester, and if you can swing it to teach the same course the whole year, your spring semester should be incredibly easy (possibly allowing you to start prepping for that next fall?).  Even if you can't teach multiple sections, the ability to choose what courses you teach can be a big bonus compared to being assigned courses.  This might also include teaching only undergrad courses the first year, not teaching large seminars, etc.

An RA/TA:

Being able to choose your
RA can be a very big deal

If you're teaching multiple/large classes, having a TA assigned to you might be the norm.  Even if it's not, you might be able to request a grad student be assigned (and paid) to help you with grading, teaching, etc.  On the other hand, if research is a big thing in the department, you might be able to get an RA assigned to you to help with your research and/or some of the grunt work (literature searches/library runs, data coding/cleaning, etc.).  Having an RA assigned to you could also be a great start to future co-authored work, assuming the RA shares your interests.  Related to this, being able to choose your RA might be something else you can negotiate that can go a long way to setting yourself (and them) up for success.

Research/travel funds:

You'll likely get some type of research start up if you're in a research-focused department.  From what I've seen/experienced in the social sciences, this could range from a few grand at more teaching focused places, to more than $25k at some R1 departments.  Sometimes this start up fund includes moving costs in that amount, and sometimes this is a separate budget.  I personally like the idea of combining moving funds with research funds, assuming that 1) the combined amount is the same as the separate amounts would have added up to, and 2) any amount you don't spend on moving remains for your research.

In any case, if you ask for a larger research budget, you should justify the need for it with a list of expenses (hardware/software, data costs, conference travel, etc.) that you'll likely incur from doing your research.  Similarly, you might be able to negotiate a bump in the annual travel funds you have access to, especially if you need to go to foreign countries for your main conference venues.  Another thing to make sure is that your funds do not expire.  Sometimes there is also a release schedule, so that you'll have access to 50% of your start up funds in year 1, 25% in year 2, and the remaining 25% in year 3.  You'll want to figure out if this is the case up front.

Computer equipment:

Related to research funds, some places will buy your first computer setup as a separate deal from the research funds, whereas others (like my current position) may have you buy your equipment out of your research budget.  If it is a separate deal, then you might want to ask for the ability to specify what setup you get (e.g., laptop vs. desktop, processor speed, RAM, hard drive size, dual monitors, external hard drive backup), rather than simply getting the 'standard' desktop setup.  This also goes for specialty software you might need (SPSS, STATA, ArcGIS, etc.).  It would also be a nice bonus if the department is willing to buy that software separate from your research funds, or if they have access to a site license.

Sometimes departments that buy your first computer will have a replacement schedule.  I know of departments with 3 year schedules, which seems fairly reasonable to me.  In any case, you'll want to figure out how long you need to plan to use the computer before you can get it replaced, as that can influence how much of your research funds (if any) you want to spend to upgrade it.

Regardless of whether the computer is paid for from the department or your research funds, I highly recommend getting dual monitors, which *might* require a specialized video card for the computer itself.  This is definitely an expense I would have no qualms about using my research funds for.

Moving funds:

Not smart, but possibly
tax deductible!

From what I've seen, most places will pay at least some of the costs of your move.  One of my friends was given, essentially, a blank check for moving costs, so he went with full packing/loading/unloading, to the tune of, I think, $12k for his cross country move.  My own cross country move cost around $5k for the movers to load/unload the truck and drive it cross country, with almost all of the packing done ourselves.  There was another ~$2k in misc. expenses like gas/food/hotel costs for driving myself, my wife, and our three cats cross country in our vehicle.  In any case, if you're moving a fairly long distance (500+ miles), I'd expect moving costs to be a substantial chunk of change that hopefully the department will help cover.  Also keep in mind that if the moving van cannot fit down your street (either on pickup or delivery), there will be an extra cost for a shuttle.  This can bump up your expenses by a few thousand dollars, so be aware if this will be an issue where you're moving.  Note that moving expenses are largely tax deductible if you're moving to a job more than, I think, 50 miles away from your current place of employment, with some exceptions (like house hunting trip costs, which are taxable income).

House-hunting trip/costs:

Eh, I'll just rub some dirt on the
bumper. I'm sure they won't notice.

Related to moving costs (and sometimes lumped together in the offer) would be costs to house/apartment hunt a few months before you moved.  This obviously will depend on how far away and how expensive the new location will be to visit.  My own house-hunting expenses were about $2k between the cross country flight (for me and the wife), hotel for ~5 days, rental car, and food/misc expenses.  Note that this (at least in the US), counts as taxable income, so I eventually paid tax on that as if it was pure cash in my paycheck.  Regarding the rental car, you can frequently get damage coverage if you use a VISA or other credit card to pay for it (double check this).  This is incredibly important if you happen to (very slowly) smash into the back of a truck with a tow hitch in a random parking lot... not that I'd know anything about that.  Related to that point, dark colors are easier to hide damage on...

A pre-tenure research semester:

Some of the research-focused departments might offer a pre-tenure research semester (i.e., a mid-tenure sabbatical) that you can use to get papers out the door, finish off a book manuscript, do some important research in far away lands, etc.  The idea is that you don't teach anything for the semester (nor have service requirements), and it's supposed to help you get things done and ready for the tenure packet.  Sometimes you can break up the research semester into multiple-semester-course-releases (so if you normally teach a 2/2, and you'd get a 2-course release for 1 semester, you might be able to take a 1-course release for 2 semesters instead, giving you a 1/1 load for that whole year, albeit possibly with service requirements).  I doubt you can realistically negotiate this point, at least as a new assistant professor -- they probably either do or do not offer this to their tenure-track faculty, but it's at least something to ask about to see if it's available.

Time towards tenure and/or clock resetting:

This doesn't really apply to 'new' people on the job market, but if you were changing positions after a year or more at another department, you might have flexibility in exactly how many years you'll have to your tenure decision.  This might mean going up for tenure a year or two early if you've been super productive already.  If you're on the verge of a tenure decision, it might mean being awarded tenure automatically.  If you are feeling a little behind, this might mean resetting the tenure clock all the way back to a 'year 1' status, or pushing the tenure decision back just a year or two.  In any case, this can be an important thing that can give you some breathing room, peace of mind, or a quicker path to tenure.

One last thing


One thing to keep in mind is who holds the purse strings.  In some cases, the person you negotiate with will be able to approve most or all of your requests themselves.  In other cases, they might have to run things by their boss (i.e., a chair running things by a dean).  So the back and forth might take a few days in between 'rounds' of negotiation, or might be tied up in one phone call.  Regardless of who approves (or disapproves) your requests, you can't get something you don't ask for.



That's all I've got at the moment.  If I think of other things you could potentially negotiate, I'll edit this post.

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Image Credit: Baby Bling, The Godfather, Dumb, Moving, Crash

The Academic Job Talk, Part 1

This post is part of the 'Academic Job Interview' series, and concerns what might be the most important part of the interview process, The Academic Job Talk.  Since this could go on for a while, I'm splitting The Academic Job Talk into two posts, one dealing with the presentation process generally, and another focusing on the content of the presentation.

For most interviews for tenure-track faculty positions, you can expect to have to give a talk about your research agenda. While there are some situations where you might also have to give a teaching demonstration, there probably are not many positions where the teaching demonstration would take the place of the job talk (at community colleges perhaps?).

These presentation can serve a number of purposes: 1) Proving that you can actually talk to a group of people (i.e., you can teach), 2) Proving you know what-the-hell you did in your own research (i.e., you're not just a parrot of your advisor/PI/etc.), 3) Proving you have a research agenda that is sustainable and interesting (i.e., you're not the one-idea-wonder), and 4) Proving you can answer questions about your research afterwards (i.e., you've spent more than 5 minutes thinking about your research).

In any case, you want to have a job talk prepared well before you go on the actual interview. The standard seems to be to use a PowerPoint (PPT) Slideshow for your presentation, expecting a questions and answers period afterwards.  I know there are some new presentation software (softwares?) on the block that might be tempting to use instead of PPT. However, I would recommend against anything that won't splurt out a .ppt file unless you're positive you can use your own laptop in the presentation and you're willing to take the chance of technical difficulties.

Yeah, it's kinda like that.

SIDE NOTE: The software Prezi comes to mind as one of those alternatives to PPT, and if you've ever seen a Prezi presentation, you'll instantly know it because of the 'zoom in and out' style of slide transitions.  Here's a criminology related example from the Prezi website. Obviously opinions will vary, but the first time I saw one of these presentations it was REALLY REALLY cool (you might be thinking the same thing after seeing the example).  The fifth time I saw a Prezi presentation, it was just annoying as hell because the magic of the zoom transition had faded, I had no idea where the slideshow was zooming to next, and it can make you feel a little seasick when the zooming also involves panning the screen to various angles. This apparently was such a problem that Prezi had to tone down the camera zoom and pan. I would also get distracted by the bits of text and images I could see *just* off screen at any given moment.  BOTTOM LINE: If you're a master at Prezi and can produce not only 'cool' but also 'professional' looking presentations that WON'T tick off half-blind 80-year-old professors or make the others seasick to the point where they barf on their sweatervests, then go for it.  If you can't do all these things, then just stick to the tried and true Powerpoints and save the Prezi for the undergrad lectures and conference presentations.

For all of the interviews I've done, I've been told to plan to talk for 30-40 minutes, and the remaining part of the hour or so will be for Q&A.  For me, this means typically a PPT of 20-25 slides, although I make sure to check the timing of my show multiple times.  I find when I practice the presentation alone, I talk a little slower than when I actually give it, so if I'm hitting 37 minutes (for example) giving the presentation to my cats, then I can assume it's going to be closer to 32 minutes or so when I do it for real. Just make sure you actually *do* practice your presentation so you know whether something needs to be added ,dropped, or otherwise changed, and so it comes across as practiced and smooth. I also find it helpful to print out the slideshow (as a handout, with 4 slides per page), and have that hard copy nearby.  I don't ever use it, but it's something that makes me feel more in control and, hopefully, this comes out in my actual presentation.

Practice my Powerpoint presentation?
F*CK IT! WE'LL DO IT LIVE!

Obviously content is a major part of the presentation, but the 'presentation' of the presentation is also very important. This relates to the PPT vs. Prezi debate (or at least the debate I made up in my head in the last 10 minutes), to the practicing of your presentation, the timing of your presentation, and also to how it is delivered.  Related to that last point, I've found I'm a wanderer when I present.  I have a hard time standing in one position (like behind a podium/laptop), and instead prefer to wander a few feet here or there.  I warn my audience before I present about this habit, and ask them to bear with me. I think this not only helps them forgive my wandering (a little), but it also helps me show I'm human and be humble about my faults (which secretly tricks them into liking me.  FOOLS!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAH! Or something.)

Using a wireless presenter
makes you feel a little like
Zeus, got of Lighting,
Thunder, and PowerPoint

Ok, I got a little sidetracked.  In any case, I like to use a wireless presenter thingy, since it not only lets me wander a little from the laptop/keyboard, but also lets me transition slides smoothly, bypassing the *Stop talking, walk up to keyboard, click keyboard, look at screen to make sure new slide is up, continue talking* thing that I've seen a lot of people do when they inadvertently wander too far from the laptop/keyboard.  It also eliminates the audible 'click' from the keyboard that comes with changing slides, which I guess isn't a big deal, but is just one more little distraction that you don't need while you present.  Finally, it seems a little magical, which is a nice confidence booster when you're doing a presentation and it's clear the audience is slightly impressed with the wireless thing. The wireless presenter I like is the Logitech Professional Presenter R800, mostly because it has a spot to hold the USB plug-in dongle so it's hard to lose, and it has an LCD timer on it that you can set for X minutes and it'll silently vibrate/buzz you when you're getting low on time, as well as show how much time is remaining.  It runs about $80 retail, $60 on sale.  There's also a non-timer-buzzer-thingy (R400 version) that is somewhat cheaper but much less awesome.

Overall, you want to make sure your presentation goes smoothly and comes across as professional, regardless of what you put in it or what software you use to present it.

As noted earlier, I'll have another post soon(ish) about the content of the presentation, but until then, there's a lot of other information about the academic job talk floating around the internet. So to steal from LeVar Burton, don't take my word for it, read the Internets! Here's just a few good posts about it that I found with a simple Google search:

• http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/tomprof/posting.php?ID=31
• http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/tomprof/posting.php?ID=1085
• http://iccweb.ucdavis.edu/graduates/PerfectJobTalk.htm

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Image credits: Prezi Cartoon, O'Reilly, Zeus

The Academic Job Interview, Part 1

Sorry for the delay in posting these past few months.  This first semester has been a roller coaster ride.  Anyway, back to semi-regular posting! (Maybe.)

This post concerns the Academic Job Interview (*DUN DUUNNN DUUUUNNNN!*)

If you've never been on one, it can be a nerve-wracking experience leading up to the visit, absolutely terrifying while you're on it, and completely exhausting afterwards. Hopefully this series of posts help make planning for it a little easier.

First Things First

The first thing that will probably happen in the interview timeline (after applying, that is), is you'll get a call (maybe an email) asking if you can come to campus for an interview. Sometimes you'll have had a phone interview beforehand, sometimes not.  All of the on-campus interviews I've been on were scheduled a couple weeks in advance, as I recall. So you won't have a lot of notice that you're going on an interview. This means you need to be prepared for an interview invitation to come at any time after you've submitted your application(s) to open positions. So start working on your job talk! (more about this in a future post...)  It also means you need to have interview clothes ready, so if it'll take a few weeks to get that suit tailored to fit right, do it now so it'll be ready when you need it.

When you get the call, you'll need to iron out the details of the visit. This might involve discussions with the search chair, or it might be talking to an admin person instead. In either case, you'll want to confirm the following at some point before the interview:

• Will you need to book and (more importantly) pay for the flight or hotel expenses yourself up front?
  
• If so, what paperwork do you need to provide to be reimbursed?  
• Realize it may take a few months to actually get the reimbursement, so you'll want to have access to cash or a credit card with enough free space to cover at least a couple interviews (~$2,000?).
  
• Side note: In my opinion, if the school is unwilling to reimburse the flight/hotel, you should seriously consider whether you actually want to work for such a (cheap/broke) department.
  
• Also, some places in far away locations (Alaska, Hawaii, the UK) might have stipulations that if they offer you the job and you decline, you will not be reimbursed for your travel. Keep this in mind if you're lukewarm about the position.
  
  
• Will other expenses, like meals while traveling, be reimbursed?
  
• If so, what receipts do you need to keep?
  
• Side note: I wouldn't order alcohol during these travel meals, especially if you need to provide an itemized receipt. Some departments will not reimburse alcohol purchases anyway.)
  
• Side side note: These questions on smaller reimbursement things (meals, etc.) have the potential to make you look really cheap and inconsiderate if asked in the wrong way. Be careful with how you phrase these reimbursement questions if you decide to ask about them. Asking about flight/hotel reimbursement, however, is both normal and should be an expected question if it's not clear up front.
  
  
• How will you get from the airport to your next location (whether that's the hotel or dinner if you're arriving the night before, or the department/offices if you're arriving the morning of your interview)?  This might require taking a shuttle from the airport to your hotel (do you book it? Do they? Is it reimbursed?), or meeting a faculty member (or grad student) at the airport (if so, get their contact information).
  
  
• Realize that you probably don't want to barrage whomever calls you to set up the interview with *all* of these questions at once (especially if it's the chair calling you with the interview offer).  Instead, it might be appropriate to send a follow up email about the smaller things, after hammering out the big things first (dates, flight/hotel booking questions, etc.).

Packing


In terms of packing for the interview, you need to consider where you're interviewing and what time of the year it will be, as well as for how long you'll be there. Here are a few things to consider:

• Regarding location/season: If you're interviewing in the South in September, you're probably going to want to dress lighter than if you were interviewing in the Northeast in January.  This might mean packing (or not packing) a pair of snow boots, coat/hat/gloves, or a travel umbrella. For example, I have a wool driving coat with a zip out liner that I love, because it's acceptable outerwear for at least three out of the four seasons, works whether it's raining or snowing, and it looks pretty sharp (in my opinion) when worn over a suit. Something similarly versatile might be a good investment when you're upgrading your wardrobe.
  
  
• You'll need to consider how many outfits you'll need to bring.  For instance, if you're on a one-day interview schedule, then a single suit should be fine (ladies, adjust my recommendations regarding 'suits' accordingly).  Conversely, if you're meeting people for dinner the first evening, having a full day of interviews on day two, and meeting people for breakfast before leaving on the third day, then you'll probably want to bring at least three dress shirts (with three different ties) and a couple of different suits.
  
  
• I recommend packing 1 more dress shirt than you think you'll need, because you never know when you'll spill something on the shirt in the middle of the day and not want to wear it for an evening event.  I also recommend using the same 'one extra' rule for t-shirts, underwear, ties, and socks. It's a relatively small increase in 'stuff' to pack, but a huge increase in 'oh sh*t' insurance.

Things to remember
There are a few other things I wanted to mention that don't really fit anywhere other that a miscellaneous category of things to remember/do/prepare for.  So here it goes:

• Don't cut your hair right before you leave!  You don't want to get a horrible haircut and be stuck with it on the interview (or if you do it yourself, f*ck something up and have to buzz it completely off the night before and end up looking like a big scary ex-convict... don't ask me how I know this.)  If you need to, I'd cut your hair a couple of weeks before the interview, since you'll have enough time to try and fix it if something does go wrong, but it won't be enough time to look 'shaggy' in the mean time.  Of course, if you rock the buzzcut normally, then disregard this advice and keep on keepin' on.
• Side note: While I like to think I looked like a big scary ex-convict, after the haircutting incident, realistically I probably looked closer to Louie CK...

Yeah, that's about right.

• Dress comfortably, but professionally.  For instance, if you have a 'lucky' dress shirt that you feel really comfortable in, like how you look in it, etc., then wear that on your 'long day' (or whatever day you have to give your job talk).  This, of course, is assuming the dress shirt still looks good and doesn't look worn and shabby.  If you end up feeling more comfortable then (I think) that should come through in your interview.  For the same reason, I always buy a new pair of dress socks whenever I have an interview or give a presentation. Weird, I know, but there's just something about a brand new pair of socks that makes me feel more comfortable and confident (plus, I don't have to worry that the socks I packed have a hole in them I didn't notice before, or don't match each other).

Dr. Cable Guy was wondering if you
log-transformed your independent variables...

• Relatedly, you can never overdress for the interview. I don't care if all of the other faculty are wearing jeans and flannel shirts with no sleeves ala Larry the Cable Guy.  You can't go wrong if you wear a suit (as a guy, at least -- again, ladies please adjust the advice accordingly). Even if you feel overdressed, it's much MUCH better than if you were seen as under dressed. If you feel absolutely uncomfortable wearing the whole suit for the entire time, then maybe lose the tie in the one-on-one interviews if it feels right (but keep it nearby for when you do the job talk or meet with the Dean).  Still, when in doubt, stay dressed up!

• Bring a notepad/folio, and use it! I never understand when job candidates come for an interview, ask questions, but never write anything down. Writing things down during the one-on-one interviews, and sometimes during the Q&A session after the job talk, shows that you're interested in what people are saying, and also allows you to refer back to your notes after the interview is over. There is simply no way you'll remember 12 different faculty members' answers to 20 difference questions over the course of an 8 hour interview day without writing things down.

• Bring your job talk's .PPT file on a USB drive (also, email it to yourself), and bring hard copy printouts of the slides. Best case scenario, you won't use the printouts, or might refer to them only during your flight to the interview. Worst case scenario is you have to deal with technology problems or a bad setup of the computer equipment, and have to refer to your printouts during your job talk or load your .PPT from your USB drive.  If you don't have a .PPT, you should seriously consider if your presentation skills are good enough to hold faculty members' attention for 30-45 minutes without .PPT visuals to refer to
• I like to use a wireless presenter mouse thingy when I do my presentations, whether that's at job talks or conferences. I always make sure it's packed in my carry on. For under $100, you don't have to be tethered to the laptop, and this is especially useful if you are a wanderer/ambler when you present (guilty).
• Side note: I really like this presenter mouse.  It has a timer on it that 'buzzes' you when you're getting low on time.

• Bring a bottle of water and some portable, fairly clean snacks (e.g., Powerbars).  You'll be talking for hours at a time, possibly with few chances for a water fountain or snack break. Having access to a bottle of water and a Powerbar or two can help keep your energy up (and stomach in line) during the marathon days that make up the job interview.  This will also help you from pigging out during the lunch and dinner meetings, allowing you to ask and answer questions more easily than if you were shoveling food into your mouth due to starvation.

Overall, it should be clear that there is a LOT of stuff that comes with an academic interview, even before you even get on the plane! This is just a small sample of things to consider.  

Future Posts
In the interest of keeping posts relatively short and digestible, I'll be breaking up posting on The Academic Job Interview into different parts.  Here's some of the future planned posts that I'll eventually get to:

• The Job Talk
• Meetings with Faculty and Grad Students
• Post Interview Stuff

In the meantime, here is an excellent post on how to act when you're on an academic interview: http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/01/30/essay-why-candidates-academic-jobs-cant-just-be-themselves

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Image Credit: Louie CK, Cable Guy,

Should you get a PhD? Things to consider.

One thing I never considered when initially looking into MA and PhD programs was that it might, in certain cases, be not such a great idea to pursue a PhD.  While it turned out to be a good decision for me (at least, it seems so thus far), I figured it might be useful to write a post about this issue.  This is not meant as a checklist to decide if a PhD is the right or wrong decision, but rather is meant to be a list of things that the potential PhD student should think about when deciding whether to pursue a PhD, or other opportunities instead.

You said I can make $15,000
per year for five to ten years?!?
HELL YEAH I'M INTERESTED!

1. Do you currently have a good-paying job?
If so, then you will probably be in for a bit of a shock when it comes to the salary of a PhD student.  While I've heard of stipends for Social Science PhD students getting as high as $40,000 in very specific programs/cases (and that amount didn't cover tuition...), more realistic is in the $15,000-$25,000 per year range.  This amount may or may not include summer salary, and may or may not involve 'actual' work (depending on if you receive a fellowship or an assistantship).

Still, assuming you won't have a sugar-daddy or sugar-momma supporting your PhD pursuits, don't have a string of income properties providing you constant rent money, or generous parents who will pay your living expenses, living on that salary may require some sacrifices or creativity.  For me, entering the PhD program in 2006 (when stipends were even lower) meant I took around a 70% decrease in my annual salary.

Also a holder of a Sociology BA degree...

Thankfully I had a sugar-momma/wife who was bringing in big bucks with her Sociology B.A. degree. Still, despite having the earning power of both a grad student and an entry-level case manager in the family, it was still quite a change in our lifestyle after I started the PhD program.  Even after finishing the PhD and receiving a very competitive job offer for an assistant professor position, I will still be making much (much, much) less compared to my friends/coworkers whom started about the same time as me in the non-academic job I left for the PhD, mostly because they have been dutifully (and successfully) climbing the career ladder for the 5 years I spent in grad school.  So yeah... It is very unlikely that a PhD will make you rich (see #2), although it hopefully will still result in a fairly comfortable life once you actually finish.

So, what does this mean for someone considering a PhD program in the Social Sciences?  If you can't possibly see giving up the finer things in life that you currently enjoy in your well-paid job (e.g., eating out regularly, buying newer model cars, living in a fancy apartment, buying food that doesn't begin with 'top' and end with 'ramen', etc.), and you won't otherwise have a sizable stream of income aside from the PhD stipend while in school, you might want to reconsider getting a PhD, or at least reconsider going full time for it.

2. Do you want to be filthy rich when you 'grow up'?

Notice that he was never
referred to as Scrooge
McDuck, PhD... probably
one reason why he was rich.

Getting your PhD in a Social Science field, especially if you intend to pursue an academic job, will not make you rich.  In fact, you may make less money as an academic with a PhD than you would in a non-academic job with an MA but no PhD. (This doesn't count academics who write popular introductory textbooks.)

For example, the median academic salary for a recent Social Science PhD graduate in 2009 was $55,000 (Source).  Going into industry provided a somewhat higher salary, while being a Post Doc provided a somewhat lower salary.  While this salary can provide for a pretty comfortable life, especially if you live in a low cost of living area like much of the midwest or south, you're not going to be a millionaire anytime soon because of it.

Further, if you have to take out student loans while you're in school to cover living expenses or other bills, those monthly payments afterwards can take a serious chunk out of your take home salary (more about funding and PhD programs in a later post). (NOTE: I firmly believe that you should not go into a PhD program if they do not offer you either full tuition remission or a comparably-larger stipend.  Taking out (low-interest) student loans can sometimes be useful, especially to pay off other, higher interest debt, but don't pay tuition for a PhD with student loans!!!)

3. Do you like to leave your work at work?

Oh how I miss
that sweet, sweet
overtime pay...

One of the things I liked about my pre-PhD-program job was that at 5pm (or 6pm if I wanted to make an hour of sweet, sweet overtime pay), I could go home and largely forget about work until the next day.  Yes, it was stressful trying to meet various deadlines, but most of the stuff I did could only be worked on while at work (due to security clearances and stuff).  Once I left for the day, I couldn't really do anything for my work, so I (usually) didn't have to worry about it.

The PhD program is not like that.  You won't be able to consistently show up for classes, work for an hour in your office afterwards, and then take the rest of the night off.  You'll have homework (at least, at first), assistantship duties (which could involve grading assignments, prepping to teach courses, research projects with tight deadlines, etc.), studying for comps, and (eventually) work on your prospectus and dissertation.  There will constantly be something you should be reading (whether for courses, teaching, or your research).

You should probably get used to
empty parking lots when you are
working on your dissertation...

If you don't put in some after-hours work, you could find yourself slipping behind in classes, being unprepared to teach a class (which is one of the worst experiences in the world), and not making a lot of progress on your dissertation.  So, if you pursue a PhD program, you should plan on working at least a few (if not a majority of) evenings each week, and some weekends, especially while you're still taking courses. While a lot of this work can be done from the comfort of your couch, it's still work that needs your attention and mental energy, and it can be taxing both mentally and physically (especially if you like to slouch while reading...).  That said, once classes are over, depending on your assistantship duties you can largely make your own hours, which is a nice perk if you're not a morning person.

The wife and I were also going
to run a small B&B in our spare
time... seriously, we bought
books about it!

4. Are you only willing to live in one specific place? 

When I first started the PhD, I had dreams of becoming a professor and being able to live in the small little village in the Northeast somewhere, teaching a couple classes and then sitting on my porch reading to the sound of leaves falling off the trees.  

After a couple years in the program, I became more knowledgeable about the different types of schools that offered advanced (MA/PhD) criminology/criminal justice degrees in my field.  Needless to say, the states I was most interested in living had very few schools that offered what I would be teaching.  Most of the states that had these programs were in the midwest or the south (like, the south-south...). Once I decided I was really interested in a job at a research-oriented

This probably would have been

me driving to work had we

ended up in the "south-south"

 program, I realized that there were very few of these schools in the Northeast US, and most were in very urban cities (e.g., NYC, Philadelphia, etc.).  Further, since schools almost never hire their own PhD students for tenure-track positions right after graduating, I had effectively burned one of my top choices for my first job by choosing to get a PhD there. (Not that I regret it now, as choosing a great program for your PhD is more important than going to a less-great program and hoping the great program will hire you for your first post-PhD job).

This led me to consider other areas of the country, starting with the mid-Atlantic and north/eastern-Midwest.  I knew convincing my wife to live anywhere BUT the Northeast was going to be tough, so I started early.  Over the last couple years of my PhD program, I slowly hinted to her about working in different states that weren't in the Northeast.  I talked up the benefits of flat cornfields (you can see twisters coming from miles away!), the Canadian wilderness (free healthcare for bear attack wounds!), and deserts (we can pretend we're at a beach that's simply run out of water!). Each state/area I brought up with her was a little further away than the last.  In perhaps a year I had my wife talked into living in about 50% of the US, and by the time I went on the market, I was able to talk her into 'okaying' my application almost anywhere in the US, Canada, and the UK.

Sorry Memorial U.,
I really did try and talk
my wife into living in
Newfoundland, but she
absolutely hates seafood.

Note that I said almost anywhere...  I wasn't able to talk her into some parts of Canada or the deep south (the south-south).  Still, just because my wife and I were willing to live almost anywhere didn't mean that I was able to choose where I got a job.  I sent out perhaps 50 applications to a wide range of programs (Criminal Justice, Criminology, Sociology, Public Policy, etc.), and ended up accepting an offer just before Christmas from a great department in a state I would have never considered a few years ago, simply because it wasn't in the Northeast.  When I visited the state for my interview, I was amazed that it wasn't what I was expecting (in a good way!), and that I could really see myself and my family living there.  When my wife and I went out to look for housing (after I accepted their offer), we realized that we really enjoyed the culture, the 'scenic vistas', the weather, and discovered that we could be very happy here, possibly for a very long time (obviously depending on tenure success and a few other things). 

Dr. Fussy was able to live
in his preferred area, but
had to make sacrifices.

The bottom line was that if I had stood firm on needing to live in a very narrowly defined section of the country, I would have missed out on applying to a number of great programs, and probably would have had to go back on the market the following year.  

Another thing to realize is that the academic job market really is a crap shoot for a new PhD, no matter how much you try and prepare in advance.  It's almost completely random which schools will be posting jobs for assistant professors, the specialties they will want to hire in, the people making up their search committee, and many other things that can all affect whether you get called for an interview for any given job posting, let alone get an offer.  

As it was, I only received the offer I ended up accepting because the first candidate they offered the position to turned it down to accept a job much closer to his family. (I know this because that candidate was/is my friend, and we were very open with our interviews/offers/etc. throughout the job market process -- more on the job market and the need for friends during that process in a later posting).

Beautiful, but flat as hell... are you
willing to live here for 3+ years?

So there are some questions you need to think about when it comes to getting a PhD, and where that might end up sending you in search of a job: Do you have an 'ideal' section of the country you want to live in?  Are you flexible and willing to explore other areas of the country you may have never visited or otherwise considered?  Is your spouse 'stuck' in their job and unable to move?  Are there a lot of potential places to work in your ideal section of the country?  Would you be willing to give up a great job simply because it's not in your ideal section of the country?  Would you be willing to work at a less-than-ideal job in order to be in that ideal section of the country?

5. Do you have realistic job prospects?
Related to #4, do you have a realistic idea of what the job market is like?  In 2009, about 73% of PhD graduates in the Social Sciences (including Psychology) had a 'definite' job or post doc lined up (Source Table 38).  That means that more than 1 in 4 new PhDs did not have anything definitively lined up after they finished.  Are you only interested in working at an R1 (very high research intensive) university when you graduate?  Do you know how many of those jobs are posted each year?  Do you know how many new PhD grads are competing for those jobs?

Yeah, the job market is a little like that...

Without needing to do much digging, I can tell you that there are relatively few R1 jobs each year compared to the number of candidates on the market.  In fact, there are relatively few academic jobs each year period.  For instance, in 2009 there were about 368 PhDs in awarded in Sociology (Source). That same year, there were a total of 324 assistant and open-rank academic jobs advertised (by U.S. institutions) with the American Sociological Association (Source, see Table 1).  Of these, perhaps half were at PhD granting departments, and one third were at R1 programs (Source, see Table 6). Not all of these resulted in filled positions.  Even assuming that some of new Sociology PhDs went into non-academic or non-tenure-track positions, when you consider how many people are searching for jobs (let alone trying to get 'good' jobs, whether that involves teaching or research), and that the assistant professor ranked jobs are also drawing applications from PhDs who have already been out a few years, as well as from non-Sociology departments (e.g., Economics, Public Policy, Psychology, etc.), you have the makings of a very tight job market for new candidates.

Not too far from the truth...

Therefore, you need to be realistic about what type of job you're going to get upon graduation, and whether you'll be happy in less-than-ideal jobs (What if you had to teach 5 courses per semester?  What if you had to adjunct for a couple years?  What if you had to live in a 'crappy' area of the country (see #4)?).  If you enter the PhD program with the 'R1 or bust' mindset, you might end up finding out what 'bust' really means.


6. Are you willing to devote 4+ years to the PhD?
In 2009 the median time in graduate school to earn a PhD in Social Sciences was between 7 and 8 years (Source - Table 28).  That's a damn long time to be working on a PhD, so you need to be sure you really want this, and are willing to put in that time.

Side rant: Yes, there are some people who can finish their Social Science PhD in 3 years.  You're probably not one of them (sorry).  If you do not already have a Master's degree in a related field, I'm almost positive that you're not one of them (again, sorry).  This is because for someone with a Master's degree, you'll likely take courses for the first year and a half, and then have comps to defend, a prospectus to write and defend, and then the rest of the dissertation to write and defend.  Without a Master's degree in a related field, you'll probably be adding another 1.5 years of courses to that schedule (2.5-3 years of courses total). So, the question is whether you are willing to devote 4 or more years to getting your PhD?  If you do finish in 3 years, great!  But don't be fooled into believing that 3 years from start-to-finish is typical, because it simply isn't.

This kid already has two AJS
pubs and an in-press ASR,
and he defends next week.

Another thing to consider is your marketability when you finish. Sometimes taking a little longer may make you much more marketable.  For instance, finishing a PhD in 3 years means you'll probably be on the job market at the start of your third year.  Is this going to give you enough time to make a solid CV?  If you have no publications by then, and want an assistant professor job at a research university, you're going to have a very, very hard time competing for those jobs. If you'd prefer a teaching-focused position, then what are the chances you'll have a significant amount of teaching experience by your third year?  Would you realistically be competitive with someone who took 5 or 6 years to finish, and had 2-3 more years of teaching experience in the mean time?  The only time I can think of that finishing a PhD quickly won't matter for marketability (at least as much) is if you're looking for a job [probably in the private sector] that only cares about the degree being completed, and not any of the other accomplishments like teaching or publishing.

Publishing a paper from
start to finish can take
longer than the gestation
period of a baby elephant.
Fact.

Further, you're unlikely to have many (if any) publications by then simply because writing a solid manuscript can take months and months, if not years, depending on the length of time you have to spend collecting and analyzing data and then writing.  Once you have something you're willing to send out for consideration, the publication process can take upwards of a year from initial submission to final acceptance (assuming you get an R&R on the first try and revise fairly quickly).  It may take another year (or longer) for the article to come out in print. Thus, if you go on the job market after a little over 2 years in the program, it's probably unrealistic that you'll have a solid C.V. by then unless you either 1) started publishing while in a prior MA program, or 2) got hooked up with a major research collaboration/project your first semester in the program, and was put on a paper already being written (in which case you're probably not first author).

7. Do you have a good support system in place?
My friend Sara recommended I add this one, and I think it's a great question.  The PhD can be done alone, but it's much, much harder than if you have a support system helping you through, keeping your spirits up, providing non-academic outlets, and generally helping to keep you a) sane, b) fairly motivated, and c) from dropping out in disgust.  I'll post more on building a support system in grad school in a later post, but you should be asking yourself who is going to support your decision to go to grad school, who is going to help you get through grad school (whether that means letting you bitch to them about the program once and a while, helping you proofread your dissertation, providing a person to bounce ideas off of, or simply helping to make dinner when you're exhausted from a full day of classes and teaching), and who isn't?

In Summary:
All of this may sound like I'm trying to talk you out of a PhD, but that would be far from the truth.  All I wanted to emphasize with this post is that there are a lot of things to consider when first considering a PhD, let alone when you later choose programs to apply for (more about this later).  Finishing a PhD is a LOT of work, and a lot of people don't ever finish.  Further, even finishing a PhD is not going to guarantee you a job, nor will it guarantee you a high salary or the ability to select where you live.  So you should consider what you will be giving up to pursue a PhD, what you want to do with a PhD, the realistic opportunities you'll have after graduation, and the type of life you'll lead as a PhD.  Just make sure you're making an informed decision to pursue (or not pursue) a PhD.

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Why and How I Chose a Ph.D. (or, "wow, what a dumbass")

I've been asked (many times) why I chose to get my Ph.D.  The short answer is because I don't like to get up early in the morning.

If only you knew how much
this reflects my real life...

Ok, that's probably too short to be a blog post, so I'll provide a little more detail.  I majored as an undergrad in a field that provided pretty good job stability, while also teaching me

This would have been me for
between 20 and 30 years...

fairly useful technology skills.  I landed a pretty sweet sounding job right out of college, and made a fairly comfortable living.  But the job was one of those 8:30 - 5:00 (or later), dress in a suit and tie, constant under-fire deadlines that changed from minute to minute, three different bosses, CC-my-bosses-on-every-email, hoping for retirement to kick in type jobs that wasn't very 'fun'.  My coworkers were pretty great, and we had a lot of fun goofing off, but the job itself was mostly shuffling papers to and fro under strict deadlines.  I couldn't see myself spending 30+ years sitting at my desk doing this job, because I know I'd only be counting down the days until I retired.

No mother, I'm not gonna
be a cop or a lawyer

So, after a lot of worrying about my future happiness, I decided to go back to study the field I took courses in 'for fun' during my undergrad days.  This field was criminal justice/criminology, which is based on sociology but focuses on things like crime, deviance, laws, and society's response to criminals.  This was my undergraduate minor, and I held a solid 4.0 in it (my overall GPA was a respectable 3.82).  So I decided to 'go big or go home', and looked into what it would take to get an advanced degree in that field and be able to quit my job to attend grad school.  My wife was totally behind my decision, particularly since it meant we would be moving closer to our families while I was in grad school.

So with only my close friends at work (and my family) knowing what I planned to do, I looked into what programs offered good degrees in the general Northeast area.  I settled on applying to one M.S. program in Forensic Psychology, and one Ph.D. program in Criminal Justice.  Both were relatively close to my and my wife's families (15 minutes and 1 hour 45 minutes, respectively).

Hindsight is 20/20...

Looking back now, applying to 2 programs was a horribly stupid mistake on my part, as I should have sent out 5-10 applications to ensure I was accepted into at least one school. I was pretty naive when it came to the whole 'grad school' thing, and so I figured I would have one long shot (the Ph.D. program) and one safety school (the M.S. program).


Once I settled on where I was going to apply, I contacted some of my faculty contacts from my undergrad program (two from the minor, one from my major) and asked them to write letters of recommendation.  I was lucky enough to have not pissed off my professors, and all three agreed to write letters for me. I studied for the GREs and did pretty good (Word of wisdom: You WILL think you have failed the GRE when you finish it.  Get the scores anyway). I compiled the various documents I needed (transcripts, etc.), and wrote my letter of interest.

I apparently wanted to be a TMNT,
because my wife was a hottie?

Let me take a moment to highlight my letter of interest.  It was probably the single most cliche piece of garbage I have written since middle school.  Even after my co-worker and good friend Will helped me revise the letter, it was still the equivalent of a steaming pile of liquid feces.  The letter read something like this:
"Hiya Professory Peoples! When I look at my wife, I realize that I love her a whole bunch! So I want to learn about crazy/bad/criminal-type people so that I can protect my wife from them and *sings* "Save The Day!"  I'm good with the words and stuff, and can also type on the computer!  Let me in to your program and I'll be happy! Holla back, son!"

Where they stored
my application files 

...this, kids, is a prime example of why you need to f*cking rock the socks off your undergrad courses and impress the sh*t out of your professors while you're there.  Without an awesome transcript and great recommendation letters (I assume?), I'm pretty sure my application would have been used as backup toilet paper for the Dean's personal rest room (or wherever Deans end up pooping. Come to think of it, I have never seen/heard a Dean going to the bathroom, so perhaps they just store it all up until they retire?).  As it is, I'm pretty sure my letter of interest gave a number of admission committee members a good laugh and is probably in one of those secret "Examples of what not to do" files that professors keep.

So once everything was finished, I sent out my application packages (with the check for the application fees, of course) and waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  My applications were sent in for a December 31st due date, and I didn't receive a letter from either school until mid-March.

This was me, realizing I might
be stuck at my job forever...

The first letter arrived from the (safety school) M.S. program.  As I opened the letter in front of my wife, my check for the application fees floated out and onto the floor.  "Sh*t, that ain't good..."  I read the letter, which basically stated the program had recently imploded and was being put on an 'indefinite hold' starting with this year's admissions.  So, with no safety school as a backup, I sweated it out for a few more weeks while the Ph.D. program made a decision.  During that time, the eyelid twitch I had developed due to the stress at my job flared into a full on, 24/7 "I might be having a mini-stroke" twitch.

During the same time, I had also thrown in my resume in for a couple of different interesting sounding jobs, and had received an in-person interview (at my expense... cheap bastards) for a job that I realized only afterwards I was definitely under qualified for. (They wanted a senior level database/networking analyst, and I knew how to make a fairly simple database and use the Internets...).

"F*ck yes I'll accept!"

While I was waiting for the outbound flight to the job interview, I received a call from the Dean of the Ph.D. program.  She said they would like to admit me, and were interested in flying me out for the visiting weekend! (At their expense!  Bling bling!) I completely blew the job interview (but who cared at that point, right?), and prepared myself (and my wife) for the visiting weekend.  Fast forward just over 6 years from the visiting weekend, and I had finished my Ph.D.!


So, what's the moral of this overly long story?  Well, there are a few things that come to mind:

1. Know what you're getting into (more on this in future posts).

2. Don't mess up your future prospects by being a dumbass as an undergrad.

3. You don't HAVE to keep working the same deadend job until retirement, assuming you have the resume/skills/contacts/etc. in place to let you jump to another job or opportunity.

4. "I want to protect my wife because she's a hottie" is not a good framework for a letter of interest. (More about applying to grad school in a later post).

5. Have more than 1 long shot and 1 safety school, in case one implodes and the other isn't tricked into (somehow) accepting you.

6. If you develop a nervous twitch in your eye from stress, you should probably find a new job (or otherwise cut out what is stressing you out).

7. Related to #4, even a sh*tty letter of interest might be overlooked if the rest of your application is impressive for some reason.

8. Making simple databases and browsing the Internet effectively does not make one qualified to be a 'senior level database/network administrator'


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