"I sort of think that it would be a mistake to go overboard in thinking the mission of the University is to be an employment agency for the students," Shepsle says. "The students that come here are chiefly here to be educated. We have to make sure that we do that well."
The graduate student in the social sciences says that finding a job is not necessarily the most important consequence of attending graduate school.
"Somebody who wanted to be guaranteed a job might have gone into law or business," she says. "In my department, it seems like what animates them is not a desire to get a tenure track job."
Berg says he thinks that while students are aware of the possible difficulties involved in finding an academic job, most choose to continue studying their subject of choice.
"I think they really are following interests during their graduate career," Berg says. "We hope that they are making informed decisions and don't have false hopes about their job opportunities when they graduate."
The Future
As the market is glutted with more post-doctoral students than it can support, graduate schools around the country are wondering what the future holds--and whether they should be cutting back on their programs.
The indeterminate lag between matriculation and graduation in doctorate programs is one factor that makes prediction difficult.
"The manner in which our current Ph.D.s are faring in the job market does not tell us much about what we should do about graduate admissions," Shepsle says. "I think the general feeling is that the academic marketplace is contracting a bit and we ought to be a little prudent but not overreact."
Most students and administrators agree that students know what they are getting into.
"It's not like a bunch of first-year graduate students are coming in having bought into a bunch of lies," says the graduate student in the social sciences. "They're not that dumb. The real question is what's happening to the attraction of talent."
Newhouse says she thinks the GSAS administration is very careful about not misrepresenting the job market and that job opportunities will improve somewhat in the future.
"My assessment is that the positive demand factors will outweigh the negative," she says.
"I think it's a pretty daunting process no matter what, but our students really have a lot going for them," Newhouse says. "It's just kind of a question of keeping at it and keeping up their spirits."