leftover salmon

The Realist/Decaf is giving you all the GOD'S HONEST TRUTH. I am recently graduated from a top-10 program. EVERYTHING he is telling you is right on the money, and the only thing I can add is that with the economy, it's actually worse out there now and I think will continue to be for a while. We have brilliant top candidates who four years ago would have gotten a job somewhere after one or two years on the market. That is just not the case anymore. And it's not "thousands of candidates chasing hundreds of jobs," it's more like "thousands of candidates chasing TENS of jobs." There's always something to be said for following your dream. What you need to ask yourself is this: is that dream worth chasing knowing that, even if you go to a "top" school, chances are better than 50% that you will not land ANY kind of academic job at the end? Not "a job at a good school" or "a job where I'd like to live," but ANY JOB? Again, we are telling this to you so that if you go, you go with a clear understanding of the very substantial risk that you are taking.