Why I left academia after my PhD 

Left academia after my PhD (in molecular biology) for consulting (currently interning at a public/social sector). It has been a very steep learning curve, however, quite rewarding due to the amount of impact the projects I am involved in have on communities and community businesses. I truly enjoy it and I honestly wish our PhD programmes were open about educating students about non-academia jobs instead of creating this image that all of us have to go on to do a post-doc, then become a lecturer and and and.

Thank you so much for this awesome video! I recently quit my PhD for reasons similar to your reasons for quitting academia after earning your doctorate. It took me a long time to realize the simple fact that our lives are ours to live and we should do whatever we're passionate about regardless of what others think. You point this out well :)

I’m sick of academia. I’ve been doing good as a PhD candidate, but want to do some more practical work. Being evaluated by the number of publications and grants is meaningless for me.

I am so glad I did this. I enjoyed defending my thesis and all, but for me it was like closing this path of my life and starting a new one. Now I work with people from different areas (law, technology, communication...), helping them with my knowledge in statistics in the law (which I had no experience before and was a whole new world for me, but now is what I do). I see the data that I analyse turning into valuable information and then been applied by judges to increase their productivity, judge more cases, managing the number of pending unresolved cases and case backlog...

I left academia after two postdocs and three years of adjunct teaching. Best thing I ever did. I found a position with a small government agency and got a chance to do things that I never would have been able to do stuck on campus.

I clearly heard the faith and confidence in your trembling voice for protecting your choice and journey. Congrats.

Thank you for the insight! Look forward to your next video.

I'm a 4th year Ph.D. in Behavioral Science. I also want to leave academia after graduation. I'm going to do a health outcomes research intern at BI this summer. In fact, no one in our PhD program can provide me with any guidance. I had no idea what healthcare consulting is. Your insight is very helpful! I also live near Boston. Hope to chat with you face to face someday in the future.

Spot on! thank you very much, I am on that process after submission to identify a path worth pursuing.

Found your channel through this video. Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I'm a senior PhD student and thinking about what I want to do after. This is super helpful! Just subscribed so I won't miss any of your videos ^^

讲得太好了，very nice.insights, keep going, Catherine!

I am frustrated! thank you for showing me the exit strategy of consulting

Thank you for your very insightful video. Just found out that PhD life is soo challenging, especially for a student mom like me. But your video made my day, and I look forward to your next video. Keep inspiring :)

I am thinking about leaving academia for a numer of reasons 1. Lost of interest 2. I want to e a mother and I would like to have free time to spend with my children 3. Financial freedom

you really the best!! Cant wait to see u in Boston! xD

Thank you for sharing your experience! I just got my PhD, I like to do the experiment and bench work, and I want to learn more about my research direction. So, I’m looking for a postdoc position now. I also consider about the industry job, but I’m worried that the industry position would be boring and wouldn’t improve my research skills and ability. Also, as a Chinese international student, getting a postdoc position might be easier than a industry position. I don’t know what would be the best way to do.

I went into the industry after submitting my doctorate. Passed my MS Teams viva (bc covid protocols) in my work office! Now I'm flirting with the idea of going into academia, under certain conditions. To be honest, working as an engineer/scientist in the UK is downright depressing. I'm not exaggerating when I say you'll earn more money handling sh*t as a plumber after 5 years in plumbing college than you would do as an engineer/scientist who spends 10 years finishing a bachelor's, master's, and a Ph.D. and going into industry. No offense to plumbers, it's great they can earn that much. It's just a pity we can't unless we change our discipline and go into finance. Which I'd never do... Our economy is not configured in a way people for people like me to strive in. Then I've come across some postdoc positions in mainland China at some of their prestigious universities and research centers. They offer pretty amazing salary and benefits packages, including free accommodation, which is a lot higher than most industry positions (for a similar skillset), let alone academia! And now I'm having second thoughts xD BTW I prefer industry because in my field (engineering/applied science), it's very common for senior academics to come from industry. My supervisor, who is a famous professor, had two decades of industry experience before he went back into academia. But there are limitations in the industry. From my experience, I always tend to be very research biased, much more so than most of the folks i work with. Sometimes I think we don't share the same long term vision of the company. They just want to run it as it was always run. I want to take it into a new direction, inlight of industry 4.0, sustainability, new regulations etc. And that requires a lot of expensive, time consuming research! Which executives very rarely have an appitite for

Thank you, wanna have you to be my phd mentor, got 2 more years to go :)

Thank you. How do I find you in LinkedIn?

Yeah i am one who want leave academic right now it's end of my phd

i thought consulting is all smoke and mirrors?

5:26 Consultants who agree with managenent's preconceived notions are the ones who are hired. If the idea fails, management blames the consultant. You know NOTHING about how the real world works.

I'm glad i will be doing a master before i have to decide where to go from there.

You are burning that hard earned phd. in real life.

I am sure u made the right choice . so well done for ur choice. we have to go with what our hears say. I worked 3 years in industry after phd and before joining academia. I was invited to speak for phd students in a research intensive school in my field while I was visiting there. I went on to highlight how those 3 years- despite the extreme difficulties-are the key to my creativity seeng interesting empirical cases. the lecturer- head of school- paused me and said, no our students are set to go directly to academia. ..........I got his point and didn't build on that. And none of their students can speak confident and creatively in any meeting. but these are not important to many academics. they r happy with their small worlds. even though I am tenured now, I carry on 7 years of full time industry experience before and after phd and they contributed to me as an academic and as a person. I stay in academia because I like academic research and sometimes teaching and supervising research students. I wish academia had less of people who dont love it .. then academia was a more innovative, flowing, and creative place.