Did they tell you that there is a glut of History MAs and PhDs, and no jobs?

Many History MAs and PhDs want to know why the number of PhDs and the focus of their education are out of balance with job prospects and career expectations.
Between 1983 and 2006, the number of doctorates earned annually in History tripled.
The percentage of History MAs and PhDs finding jobs continues to shrink.
For History PhDs overall, after five years only about 7% of graduates hold a full time job.
"You talk to anyone running a faculty job search anywhere and they are getting on average 200 applicants," says a History PhD from Yale.

They keep admitting students to History PhD programs to keep the programs going but there are a ton of unemployed people out there right now.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

So, this isn't actually a question, is it?

I have a MA in history (always intended to be terminal degree) and I have a job. Everyone who graduated from my program last spring is in a PhD program or has a job in their field. While this isn't true of every graduating class, it is the case more often than not. The university where I went to grad school hired for 4 tenure-track faculty positions in my department while I was there (2004-2006). They got under 100 applications for each position. This is a state school in Ohio, so they don't have the high profile of the first tier jobs.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education (article from last spring) there are more positions available than new graduates. That said, my department sometimes had a hard time finding strong applicants. At a school like mine, the full-time faculty teach most of the undergrad classes. So, they valued teaching skills and experience more highly than publications. People who didn't have experience (often from ivy league schools) weren't brought to campus and candidates who came to campus and didn't teach well weren't hired.

I had experience and connections in my field before grad school. I worked in my field while in grad school, wrote a thesis though it wasn't required for my track, did two internships, and volunteered in my field. I started interviewing in June, still volunteering in my field, and had a job by September. I'm a research historian for a cultural research management firm. My firm has hired three historians this year and is currently advertising for two more. Everybody I know who is working in their field did extra work while they were in grad school. Those who aren't took the easiest classes and didn't do any extra work, whether at school or in the community. This shows up in PhD program graduates, too. A lot of people asking questions here want to know about how to get into the most prestigious school. My department chair encouraged my classmates to choose the PhD program whose recent graduates were getting jobs and to think about their chosen concentration and the classes they took in terms of how they would help them get a job.

There are jobs, but lots of applicants who are not prepared. Its our job to listen to advice critically. If your advisor has limited life experience (as many do) you should be talking to more people. Its up to you to prepare for the real world. Good Luck!

WOW---pag2809----what a an awesome answer. You sound like a very caring person.
Did you hear the joint announcement from the CEOs of Toyota, Nissan, GM, Ford and Daimler-Benz stating that since there are so many cars in existence now, many of them not in use, they are going to cease production of all automobiles, until the glut has subsided? No?

Academia as an institution is also an industry. The objective that "they" (the universities) have is to provide quality education and produce MAs and PhDs. The university cannot simply say, "Oops, too many graduates in X out there, lets close that program down." As long as students want to pay to get an education in X, universities are going to provide it.

It is my objective to be employable. Therefore it is my obligation to inform myself about what is going to make me employable. I may make good decisions, I may make bad decisions, but at least I get to make my own decisions. I don't have someone saying, "you can't study X, because there are more qualified degree holders than there are jobs."

There are jobs out there - they may not be teaching jobs. They may not be academic jobs. Lots of us pay the bills doing things unrelated to our academic credentials.