tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post1404812138275388207..comments2024-03-29T03:15:16.064-04:00Comments on Just Like Cooking: How Long are Postdoctoral Fellowships?See Arr Ohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09464185815368499346noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-80148443105638222862015-06-19T10:55:35.373-04:002015-06-19T10:55:35.373-04:00Would definitely be interesting to see the gender ...Would definitely be interesting to see the gender break down. In my personal experience and also based on the people I knew on the job market this year, I would not anticipate that men do significantly longer postdocs. I knew several women applying for a second time and also a few men. <br /><br />My perspective is as a woman, that is closing in on 4 years as a postdoc- several reasons for a long PD- switched from organic synthesis to chemical biology, had a baby, etc. I found that I was mostly interviewing with men that had done shorter postdocs than me.<br /><br />Again, just my personal experience, would be interesting to see the numbers.Narayannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-10085817163513884022015-06-17T14:46:01.699-04:002015-06-17T14:46:01.699-04:00My personal experiences are varied and dependent o...My personal experiences are varied and dependent on institution.<br /><br />From my graduate institute about half the people did postdocs. Most of the other half wanted to teach and went into adjunct positions directly. Some of them have converted to full-time faculty positions, but some are still adjuncts (several years post-graduation). Of the people who did postdocs (including me), the average was about 2 years. But this brings me to my next point.<br /><br />At my postdoc institute, I was the only one in my group that was on my 1st postdoc. Some others were on their 2nd, one was on their 3rd. Their previous stints had lasted 2 years on average as well, but obviously total combined postdoc time was between 4-6 years. This was unfortunately common at my postdoc institute, and I'm sure it surprises no one that there are a lot of people on visas there. I know at least one person who was let go because he'd exceeded the NIH number of years to be in postdoctoral training.<br /><br />On the other hand, after talking to some of the postdocs in the biology dept, I'm very thankful I studied chemical sciences. Not only had most of them spent more time getting their PhDs, but their postdocs averaged 5-8 years! That's for a single postdoctoral appointment, and some of them had done more than one as well!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010505890506526002.post-33506970461564023592015-06-17T10:14:56.757-04:002015-06-17T10:14:56.757-04:00I would be interested to see the breakdown by gend...I would be interested to see the breakdown by gender. My hypothesis is that the average postdoc length for women is shorter than for men. In my experience, women who are not successful on their first try in the academic job market are subtly or not so subtly shunted toward visiting ass/ adjunct positions or encouraged to consider non-academic career options. Men oh the other hand "just need a little more experience" and are encouraged to spend another year (or 3) as postdocs with the additional experience eventually leading to more success on the job market. <br /><br />If true, this would represent another leak in the leaky pipeline for women and science.<br /><br />But it also matters for women who do get academic positions. When competing for grants and awards (or jobs for that matter) women will then be competing against men who on average have several years more experience as chemists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com