Career Outcomes for STEM, Social and Behavioral Sciences and Education Doctoral Alumni

Abstract

Traditionally doctoral students are trained to pursue tenure-track positions in research-intensive institutions. However, a survey of 914 PhD alumni at a public research university in a diverse array of disciplines finds that students move across employment sectors over a 15-year period. This study used a three-tier taxonomy to classify both shortand long-term employment outcomes based on employment sector, career type and job sector for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Social and Behavioral Sciences and Education (SBSE) doctoral alumni. The study is unique in that demographic information such as race, gender and citizenship status and academic performance measures were examined to gain a deeper understanding of career trajectories. The findings indicate differing career paths based on demographic characteristics, but also finds there is no correlation between academic performance metrics such as GPA and GRE scores and job placements in academia or outside of academia. This has significant implications for doctoral training and suggests that graduate programs must prepare students for both academic and alternative careers, particularly as tenure-track positions and U.S. federal research dollars continue to shrink. This study also adds to a growing body of literature on the need for rigorous data collection, and transparency to help students make informed choices about PhD training and career pathways.