We'd Like to Hide from the Recession Ourselves

Over at In the Pipeline, Derek Lowe blogs about bad reasons for going to graduate school, citing an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that brought up the topic. Of all the bad reasons discussed -- including idealizing the college environment in the face of getting an entry-level job and preferring the validation of high grades -- the one that seems most applicable in the scientific world is hiding from the bad economy, Lowe says. "I'd have to think that we have a lot of people who are taking a bit longer to finish their PhDs than they might have otherwise, and a lot of people looking for post-docs who might otherwise not have done one, while they wait for the job market to improve," he writes.