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  • Career Coach: Should I Apply to Academia?

    By Tedra Osell October 12, 2008 9:51 pm
    (Also appears in Career Coach )

    Dear all,

    This is the first time I come to this site. I have a question, and wasn't sure how to start a new thread. So I hope it is OK that I post here.

    I am a 30 year old female PhD student, and I will graduate next year. My husband and I plan to have two children in the next 4-5 years. And I would like to take a leave for a year for each kid, which accumulates to 2 years.(For medical reasons, I don't want to wait till late 30s to have children.)

    My question is should I apply for academia? Is my plan compatible with academia? Can I have two kids before getting tenure, and taking one year off for each kid? I am in science, so I can easily go into industry. Family life is more important to me than career.

    Thanks so much in advance for any advice you may give me!!

    Hell yes you should apply! Academia needs more women (and men) like you--people who know straight up what their priorities are, and aren't so cowed by "the job market" that they're ready to feel grateful for anything that comes their way. With confidence like that you'd probably be an awesome interview and a strong candidate.

    Apply for the jobs that look good to you, ask about leave policies at the campus visit (b/c by that time they're pretty into you already), and if you get an attractive offer, jump in. I'd be surprised if industry was much more family-friendly than academia, to be honest. In my opinion, the primary difference between academia and industry for mamas is that if you're an academic your time is generally more flexible--which is obviously very convenient, but also makes it awfully easy for you and your partner to slide into the habit of expecting you to be the one to flex. Which can be frustrating and impede your work, if you let it.

    But hell, you might as well try. Academia is a great gig when it works out, and as sure as you are of your own priorities, if it ends up *not* working out, you should be able to move on without the hideous angst that affects too many former academics.

    The worst-case scenario is you take an academic job, take advantage of the flexibility, and then, if you've decided it's not for you, bail at tenure time -- by which point your oldest, at least, will be starting school. What's the down side?

    Have a question for the Career Coach? Send e-mail toMamaPhD.

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Comments on Career Coach: Should I Apply to Academia?

  • now!
  • Posted by Katy on October 14, 2008 at 7:55pm EDT

  • Have kid #1 now while you are still in grad school. Have kid #2 before you are an assistant professor. Try to time them to arrive right before summer.

    Don't take a year off with each kid - take a lax schedule. Teach 1 class, publish a lot...

    It is common wisdom that it is a whole lot easier to pop those kids out while being a grad student rather than when you're going for tenure.

  • Posted by Dr.C on October 20, 2008 at 5:55am EDT

  • This is not to dissuade you from applying for jobs within academia, but I think at many institutions they would laugh in your face if you said you intend to take a full year off with each kid, especially pre-tenure. And I'm saying this as a person in the humanities, where things are typically *more* and not *less* family friendly. When everybody teaches a 4/4 load, and when you're at an institution that doesn't have pre-tenure sabbatical, and when you are at an institution that doesn't cover faculty leaves of any kind with visiting profs, and when even after tenure the only full-pay sabbatical a person can receive is one semester every 7 years.... Yeah. I just think it's really unrealistic at that type of institution that anyone would find your desire to take a two years off pre-tenure compelling. You may want to consider this as you decide whether or where to apply for asst. prof. gigs. In my experience, places with heavier teaching loads will be much less flexible about leave time, period.

    Yes, academia could be more flexible and family-friendly than it is, but walking into a new job and announcing that you plan to take two years out of the first 5 probationary ones off? Probably not going to make you very many friends.

  • Posted by Jaime on October 20, 2008 at 2:20pm EDT

  • Having a child on the tenure-track does pose many challenges, but I want to stress that it is doable. What is required is a department chair who "get's it" -- who understands what work/life balance means and who respects that challenges associated with being a working mom -- and a university culture that has or is beginning to consider work/life policies.

    You could take a job that you are offered regardless of the work/life balance culture and use the work flexibility to juggle child care and academic productivity. This has certainly proven successful by many academic parents prior to work/life balance policies.

    Yes, you could also go ahead and forgo the year off, but I would not recommend it. Having a child will put a dent in your productivity and you will need the extra time to catch-up.

    My suggestions come from a place of experience. I am a tenure-track faculty person in my third year with a 7 month old child. The sleep deprivation alone will make it more difficult to have a child and the summer helps (my child was born in March), but not all babies sleep well when September rolls around.

    The bottom line is that some universities are more supportive, flexible, and understanding than others. You are going to face challenges as an academic parent, but you can find (with some creativity) ways to make academe and family compatible.

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