u/AlarmedTea

I am going into my last year(s) of graduate school and struggling to figure out what I want to prioritize since positions in academia require specific trade-offs. I come from a first-gen background and went to graduate school straight out of undergrad thinking the job market uncertainty would feel less daunting when I got to that stage of my career. Now, I think I want to prioritize financial stability, and a non-academic track might actually be able to give me this, but I'm wondering-- how do other people make these decisions when picking where they want their career to go?

• Post-doc/academic track:
  • Pros: continue building resume for professor position
  • Cons: will need to move for 1-2 years, may need to do two post-docs and then move twice before landing a permanent position
• Non-academic track:
  • Pros: can pick where I live and search for PhD-level research analyst roles; may be able to have a higher salary than a postdoc (50-60k) or assistant professor (70k-100k depending on location)
  • Cons: not my original dream when I started graduate school, and I feel I could have been done after my master's and done this track way earlier (sort of a sunk-cost feeling)
• Stay in graduate school until I land an assistant professor job: my field is very competitive, so this may require 1-2 more years of graduate school while I see if any of the papers from my dissertation land (and my current stipend is around 40k)
  • Pros**:** I can save on moving costs, my partner's family lives where I live, and I value being able to live near family. I love research, I like teaching, and I believe I could thrive as a research university if I got a professor job.
  • Cons: even if I land a job as a professor, I may not have many choices on where I live + the salary