europeans

[Megan Brown]

Ms. S.J. Rickard (srickard at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk) wrote:
: The climate must be different over the Atlantic as it seems to me after 
: reading posts about Americans looking for Phds and 
: postdocs that there is so much pressure and competition. If I wanted to 
: do a Phd I would have no trouble finding funding or a position in the UK 
: and there are plenty of post docs about too.

: Sarah

I have found in the U.S. that it is also is not too difficult to enter a 
PhD program or find a postdoctoral postion. I think the next stage of one's 
career, the post postdoc stage, or a "real job" as it is often referred 
to, is currently presenting a bottleneck to the many qualified postdocs 
out there. There is indeed great competition to find the "real job" after 
completing one's postdoc(s). This includes both academic and industrial 
postions. Can people in the UK and Europe comment on what it is like 
where they live at this stage of one's career? What do all the people do 
after they finish their postdocs? Do they find faculty positions, work in 
industry, or are there other popular options? Are there many postdocs who 
drop out of science at this stage? This is becoming increasingly frequent 
in the U.S., since there just are not enough jobs out there for all the 
qualified scientists.


Megan Brown
mbrown at fred.fhcrc.org
--------------------------------------
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, Washington
--------------------------------------