My friend Jon had an interesting comment to my last post. He said:

Yeah man I hear you! I managed to extend my stay in academia for 2 more years, but I won’t be so lucky next time… Sure I bitch about schoolwork (who doesn’t) but I like school a lot. The trouble is, we’ve been in the system too long Phil. We don’t know what else there is.

Unfortunately Jon, you’ve missed the boat on this one.

It’s not that I’ve stayed in academia because I’m not sure what else is out there, or that I’m timid of leaving school. I’ve stayed in academia because that’s been Plan A all along. For the most part, I enjoy the system.

In fact, I think life would be a helluva lot easier if I decided to go work as a mathematician in industry. The opportunities are more numerous, the pay and benefits are much better, and I think my personality is slightly better suited for life outside the ivory tower (though the longer I stay in the system, the harder it becomes to differentiate the part of my personality that is inherit and the part that is molded by the system).

Do you remember when our teachers were giving speeches on our behalf at our high-school graduation? Do you remember what mine said about me? (Of course not). She said, “I’m pretty sure he’ll be staying in school his entire life.”

She didn’t mean it as an insult or a joke, but as a statement of fact. Even then, I was sure of my career path. We’re all so confused about what we want to do in life at that age, but I sure as hell wasn’t.

And even now, minus some small quibbles, I’m still pretty damn sure. Almost everybody I know has had to go through revisions in their Plan (with a capital ‘P’!). Very few undergraduate students who once imagined themselves doing a postgraduate degree end up doing one. And yes, a lot of postgraduate students are doing their degree out of confusion about what else to do in life.

But for me it’s always been Plan A. There is no Plan B.