But that is not possible in many departments, where the older one gets, the harder it becomes to land a job.

Biel says that lectureships, and the time they provide to turn dissertations into books, exemplifies how the University generally helps graduate students.

Still, he says, students would benefit from better advising about strategies for positioning oneself in an incredibly competitive job market.

And Eric Kurlander, a History graduate student at the end of his dissertation, says a more formal system that provides students with a timeline of options and deadlines would be beneficial.

"I would say Harvard does a good job in spite of itself, simply because it is so wealthy, vast, and decentralized that there are always opportunities cropping up which would not appear elsewhere," he says.

The Bureau of Study Counsel offers a Dissertation Writers' Support Group. And Kimberly G. DelGizzo, associate director for Ph.D. advising at the Office of Career Services (OCS), says that the aid and resources are available through OCS and the GSAS Student Services, and that it is up to students to take advantages of the resources.

"It's important to engage in career development as a process as they think about life beyond Harvard," she says.

She says that includes assessment of their skills and interests, "reality testing" in internships and informational interviews, and strategies in proactive and reactive job searches both inside and outside of academe.