Should I tell schools that I plan NOT to continue in the same field after PhD?

[Jody]

I want to go for a PhD because I like to do research. But there are too few faculty positions in the academia, and I can't afford to spend my whole life struggling on the tenure track.

 

So I plan to sharpen my technical abilities that I will use in getting the PhD, and after I graduate use them to apply for jobs in the industry.

 

For example, I want to go to grad school in Astrophysics, in which I will practice skills in computation and statistics, and then go to the industry (maybe finance or something, because there isn't really an industry in the astrophysical studies).

 

Is this acceptable to schools? Should I say this outright in my SOP, or should I conceal this motive entirely?

Edited February 6, 2015 by Jody

[GeoDUDE!]

You will still do research in industry if you want to use your PhD. You just won't be in academia. Industry does more R&D than academia in the US.

[Jody]

You will still do research in industry if you want to use your PhD. You just won't be in academia. Industry does more R&D than academia in the US.

Thank you, I edited my post correspondingly. I should have put more emphasis on "not continuing in the same field".

Edited February 6, 2015 by Jody

[.letmeinplz//]

You will still do research in industry if you want to use your PhD. You just won't be in academia. Industry does more R&D than academia in the US.

Industry research also seems to be incredibly fast pace in comparison. I have no doubt that Google could create a lightsaber in a year if they saw a use for it (maybe if they could somehow integrate AdSense into it).

[TakeruK]

Conceal this information until you find the ones you can trust with the info. Many professors and programs still have the old mindset that if you do not continue in academia, you are a failure (even that is not realistic). More modernized programs might be happy for you to do research or other work in non-tenure tracked astrophysics positions too. But I think few programs will be happy spending all these resources on you to train you as an astrophysicist and then have you not work in astrophysics. 

 

During school visits, I asked one prof if he had any students do well in non-planetary science / non-astrophysics careers. He said that he had one student that left the field to work for a video game company and that the prof was super pissed about that. The prof said he felt that he wasted 5 years of his time training this person for no benefit to him or the field. I stopped asking any other professors this question after that experience.

 

But once I got to know the professors in my current program better, I did talk to them about this topic again. I mentioned my interaction with the other prof and they said that of course every prof would want their student to continue in the field because our future work is basically an extension of their work and collaboration. But they also said that they see the University's main role as a place to train experts that will benefit society as a whole, and while it's not ideal for them to "lose" a grad student to another field, it's not terrible either and they would prefer to see the student succeed in what's best for the student. 

 

So, you'll meet a lot of different people with a lot of different viewpoints and support for you. Since you don't know who these people are in advance, I would strongly suggest not mentioning it in your application materials and just leave it vague. You're not expected to know exactly what to do at this point anyways. However, seek out mentors and supervisors that will support you and talk to them about your goals. My current program is very supportive of alternate career paths and our thesis committees want to know what each student's post-graduation goals are and will make suggestions to help you achieve them. But again, I would say this part is something you should worry about after you get accepted, not in the application stage. To make sure you are choosing the right school, you might want to ask a few probing questions to profs and students while you are visiting / calling them on Skype (without making it sound like you only want to go to their school to get computational training etc.)

[Jody]

Thank you very much for your detailed answer! You've clarified everything for me.

And yes, I should search more about the "non-tenure tracked astrophysics positions". I do not know much about that yet.