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A comment on MIT: 20% drop in incoming graduate students. Parent comment

Re:MIT: 20% drop in incoming graduate students by spwa4 on Thursday May 14, 2026 @12:05PM (#48137367)
Yes, in positivist sciences 20% intending to say would be very high by historical standards.

This paper https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/93208 gives and estimate 87% PhD holders leave before becoming (tenured) faculty. And that's academia-wide. In the sciences more will be leaving. In exact sciences yet again more.

Truth is most people leave before even getting a PhD, so it's even worse (and the advice is to think long and hard before doing a PhD, and certainly starting one because you can't find a job for a few months is sure to result in disappointment)

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Re:MIT: 20% drop in incoming graduate students by mishellaneous on Friday May 15, 2026 @06:51AM (#48147028)
> Yes, in positivist sciences 20% intending to stay would be very high by historical standards.

i'd be interested in a source for this. i did not find in the article you cite mention of historical trends.

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