Are PhDs in Languages just for future professors?

[xolo]

While chatting with a graduate advisor at a major university, she commented that their Spanish program was just for future professors of Spanish.  I questioned her on that and she back tracked and made some comment about there must be other uses for the PhD because there's a lot of people in the world etc. etc. So, is this really true?  PhD in Spanish (or French, or any language) is just to train teaching professors?  What are all you PhD students of languages planning on doing after you graduate?

Edited June 29, 2014 by eyepod

[Francophile1]

Actually it is very interesting that you bring this up, since I've had conversations about this with my fellow classmates.

Yes, I would say in languages-PhD's are primarily getting prepared for an academic career, however in my program we do have some students who are primarily interested in just writing and publishing. Primarily students in the U.S embark on PhD's as a means to a Job, so this is why most are planning to teach!

However I have never heard Professors just refer to a program as a simple preparation to be a Professor.

[Bleep_Bloop]

In my experience, yes, a phd in languages is for those who plan on becoming professors. Granted, my experience is in Ivy-league culture, but it's generally taboo to talk about leaving academia for other career paths. Grad school is considered by students and professors alike to be the first stage of an academic career...I'm almost certain that mentioning the fact that you don't want to work in academia after your phd would be a kiss of death during the interview process. Granted, there are some exceptions. I know of some PhDs who work in other fields after grad school, but in most cases that's because they couldn't find work in academia and had to take on something else...so they enter business or consulting (which, financially at least, is not a bad gig at all).

Long story short, if you enter a phd program in languages then you will most likely be trained to enter academia, under the assumption that you entered the program with that intention. I don't know anyone who started a phd program without the intention of becoming a professor. Some didn't and wound up in the private sector, but that's because their situations changed along the way.

[bumbl3b33]

Very interesting question. I am a 1st year PhD student in comparative literature with previous working experience in the private sector (translation, export sales) and I often wonder if there are any other real career opportunities with a PhD in languages/lit apart from the academic field. Also, I wonder why everyone in academia (if what Bleep bloop says is true) is so ashamed to talk about the possibility of looking for jobs outside academia after a PhD considered that most people tell us (at least in my school) that there are very few jobs available in the academic field. 

[Bleep_Bloop]

I wonder why everyone in academia (if what Bleep bloop says is true) is so ashamed to talk about the possibility of looking for jobs outside academia after a PhD considered that most people tell us (at least in my school) that there are very few jobs available in the academic field.

Because The point of a PhD program in literature (which is what most language departments offer, with some linguistics tracks here and there) is to train future academics committed to teaching, research, and service to a university and field. A graduate program is not a book club. If you're not interested in becoming an academic then why would/should the department pay for your studies? It's one thing to try and fail on the academic market and then transition to a different industry, there's no shame in that. What's more problematic is when people come in without any intention of working in academia, just because they "love the material" and want to be paid for that, then move on to a career in consulting or whatever.

This can be a touchy subject, and I mean no offense to anyone in the thread by this post.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Bleep_Bloop

[xolo]

This was one of my first posts on Grad Cafe. Since then I've thought about this question a lot, made my applications, and was accepted into 4 programs, including a funded top PhD program, which I took. I have a lot of respect for the admission committees, that's a big responsibility.