Leaving Academia After PhD: Why Does Life After PhD Feel So Ambivalent?

Anyone who left academia knows this state of mind. Shall I stay, or shall I go? How will life after PhD look, and how to leave academia with confidence?

Was a PhD worth it? Living academic life, it’s easy to fall for the prestige trap and develop a belief that no other way of (professional) life will ever give us the same level of inspiration and sense of mission.

Today, the numbers are against us and academic career has effectively become an alternative career path. This is borne out in the data: according to the National Science Foundation’s NCSES survey of doctorate recipients, only 40% of 2024 PhD graduates with definite job commitments went into academia, down from 56% in 2004, with industry now employing just as many. Leaving academia after PhD requires a long and complex self-discovery process, especially given that you were investing in your career development in one particular direction for so many years — which is exactly why PhD career change success stories are worth studying.

It is a hard call especially given how the academic system is structured. Namely, academia is a bit like an army.

It is a hierarchical system in which getting to a higher rank usually brings more respect from the environment. It also gives a deep sense of personal achievement.

On the day of admission to graduate school, most PhD candidates — either consciously or subconsciously — consider a tenure position in academia as a viable future career option.

But, then, in the self-discovery process, they often find out that for many reasons, academia is not the place in the job market for them.

By the time they conclude that it’s time to leave, they need to cross out the original plan from the list of potential future careers, which is really about how to plan a PhD exit strategy. And that feels as if some door has just closed. 

So, how not to feel disappointed when it comes to looking for options outside academia on the open job market? Well, it’s all about setting the expectations right and knowing how to evaluate a career change decision.

You can review more information on how to proceed in the book “What is out There For Me? The Landscape of Post-PhD Career Tracks” by Dr. Natalia Bielczyk.

What Can We Learn From the Olympic Games?

And now, let’s think about the Olympic Games. When talented kids decide to become athletes in the future, they assume from the very beginning that doing sports for a living is a short-lived career. In most sports, you cannot stay competitive on the world-class level above the age of 30 or 35. 

What does it mean in practice? Well, from the get-go, these kids need to take into consideration that even if they eventually become successful, they will still need to worry about what they should do next in their thirties. And even if they are not fully aware that it is a problem, their parents know it well.

Yet still, millions of young people try themselves in competitive sports. Those who do it full time and reach the level of the Olympic Games, need to sacrifice themselves fully for the cause. They rarely have time and opportunity to think about Plan B for life before it’s time to retire from a career in sports, which is where a career strategy for the next decade becomes essential. 

And then, they need to search for a whole new way of life, which can be a challenge and a struggle, as pictured in the shocking documentary, “Why professional athletes and Olympians struggle with life after sport.” 

But do most athletes regret the way they spent their youth, or did they simply learn how to avoid common career mistakes? Do they regret countless hours spent in the gym?

Jogging in the rain? Stretching in the burning sun?

Fasting and counting calories? Negotiating with sponsors? Stressing out before championships?

Sleeping at the airports? Staying away from their family?

Rarely so. What most former athletes remember best, are the days of glory — the days when they were standing on the podium, signing autographs and serving as role models to young people. The days when their family was proud of them.

How Are We Different From Athletes?

So, why do most Olympic athletes remember their careers in sports as the greatest adventure of their lives? While most PhD graduates think about their times in academia as some form of an unfinished project or a broken career and are afraid of life after a PhD? 

Well, expectations make the whole difference. The Olympic medalists never hoped to still compete at the age of 50 or 60 in the first place. Therefore, they step down and retire without the feeling of a loss. Research on athletes backs this up: a prospective study in Psychology of Sport and Exercise found that athletes who redefine their sense of self before retirement — rather than waiting until the career ends — adjust far better to life after competing.

Research is also a form of sport. Namely, PhDs we also compete, just in a different way.

We compete to understand some topic, solve some problem, or answer some question as the first in the world. We can only publish our work once we succeed.

And when we do, we do win the Olympic Games of sorts! It is just that instead of cheering and being happy about it, we use to proceed straight to the next project.

Conclusion: Can Life After PhD Feel Like Being a Champ?

Is a PhD worth it? Can life after PhD be a blast? It’s not an easy question to answer, as it depends on your self-discovery process, namely on how well your PhD project will allow you to explore your natural talents, and how well your PhD will fit into your long-term career prospects.

As a rule of thumb, it is good for fresh PhD candidates to treat their PhD program as Olympic Games rather than as the start of a lifelong career. Setting the expectations right from the start will prevent you from many disappointments on the way to building your career path. Namely, if you don’t expect to become a tenured researcher, you can only get surprised in a positive way. 

And once you do successfully come to the end of your PhD, you should be proud of yourself. You won the Olympic Games after all! It might be a competition in some niche discipline, yet still, it is an Olympic gold medal.

What Does the Job Market Data Show About PhD Value?

And, the job market reflects that: PhD degree holders are well-paid across the board:

According to NCES data, doctorate recipients earn strong median salaries across most fields, especially in industry roles. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data puts a sharper point on it: doctoral degree holders had median weekly earnings of $2,278 in 2024 and an unemployment rate of just 1.2%, the strongest numbers of any education level.

Stories like this one are close to the heart of why Natalia wrote What Is Out There for Me? The Landscape of Post-PhD Career Tracks.