In June 2024, the American Academy of Religion’s Graduate Student Committee conducted a survey of student members to collect information about their experiences and struggles. The results, presented in a webinAAR on July 31, highlight significant concerns about the current state of graduate education. This open letter series is an extension of that presentation and aims to share the survey data with faculty members and administrators, offer insights into the challenges faced by graduate students, and provide practical steps for offering support. Graduate students are both the labor of our present and the future of our field – faculty must take the time to understand their struggles and support them in the ways they ask. This series, and the conversations we hope it starts, is an attempt to open a dialogue about how faculty can and should play a crucial role in the success of graduate students and to bring awareness to the unique challenges faced by so many current graduate students.
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“I feel like I’ve been sold a dream that isn’t attainable.”
The academic job market, once a cornerstone of graduate student aspirations, has transformed into a landscape fraught with uncertainty and disillusionment. The results of our recent survey of over 130 graduate student members of the American Academy of Religion paints a sobering picture: many are coming to terms with the stark reality that their chances of securing a stable, fulfilling academic job are slim. The reality of the graduate student experience today is that it is one where hope is scarce, uncertainty is the norm, and support for transitioning into diverse careers (the preferred terminology for what was once called “alt-ac” as these jobs are no longer alternative but almost guaranteed) is virtually nonexistent. As one student put it bluntly, “There is no hope for an academic job, so all graduate students should plan for careers outside the academy.”
This sentiment reverberates across the responses to the survey, and among the many responses encouraging the AAR to promote resources for graduate students – a goal of the current Graduate Student Committee – students identified a significant lack of support and mentorship from their advisors, faculty mentors, and departments. (Since this survey, the AAR has already taken steps to create robust mentorship programs and year-round programming that showcases members in diverse careers.) Highlighting the need for faculty to shift their approach to advising and for graduate programs to reconsider the institutional structures they enforce, graduate students need faculty support as they prepare for diverse careers, academic or not. This shift could involve graduate programs introducing internships, giving students the opportunity to explore career options outside of teaching and research, and before their livelihoods are at stake. Additional career training and support from graduate academic success programs, like a Graduate School or Career Center, can help students effectively market their soft and transferable skills. Faculty training and engagement with diverse career paths would broaden their understanding of alternative opportunities. Additionally, funding for professional development would enable students to attend workshops, obtain certifications, and expand their professional networks.
The data is clear: with tenure-track positions becoming increasingly scarce and adjunct roles on the rise, students are finding themselves competing for a shrinking pool of opportunities. The pressure to publish, secure prestigious fellowships, and network within academic circles adds to this anxiety, creating an environment where success often feels out of reach. One respondent lamented, “It feels like no matter how hard you work, it’s not enough. The bar keeps getting higher, and the opportunities fewer.” But beyond these tangible challenges, the emotional toll is undeniable. Students described feeling betrayed by a system that promised more than it could deliver.
“We’re told to just keep going, but at what cost? How many sacrifices are we expected to make for a chance at something that might never happen?” one student asked, while another confessed, “I feel like I’ve been sold a dream that isn’t attainable.”
Considering this, it is crucial for faculty to be transparent with their students about the current state of the academic job market. While encouragement is valuable, it must be tempered with honesty. “I wish faculty would be more honest with us,” one student noted. “Instead of telling us to keep pushing for jobs in academia, they should help us prepare for alternatives.” And, while honesty is important and faculty must be candid at every step of the way with students about the grim realities of the job market, honesty itself is not enough. To say in passing that the job market is bad or that students need a back-up plan while the structure of their graduate training and professionalization narrowly focuses them towards that very job market fails to do any more but pay lip service to an issue deeply affecting graduate students.
Faculty have a vital role to play in guiding students through this difficult landscape. Offering roundtables on diverse careers, workshops on how to turn your CV into a resume or writing cover letters for job applications, and connecting students with alumni who have successfully transitioned out of academia are practical steps that can provide much-needed support. “I would love to hear from people who’ve made it out and are doing well,” one student shared. “It would help me feel less trapped.” Moreover, faculty can advocate for systemic changes within their departmental requirements such as encouraging internships for credit during coursework, allowing for language requirements to be met with coding languages, and rethinking what a final dissertation project could look like beyond the traditional monograph format – there are many examples of digital projects, community engagement projects, or performance projects from other disciplines that do not sacrifice the expected level of rigor and scholarship while being more conducive to a non-academic future. While these changes require collective effort, faculty can lead by example, mentoring students for success both within and outside academia.
The message from graduate students is clear: the academic job market is bleak, and they need support and guidance that extends beyond traditional academic pathways. One respondent aptly noted: “We are staring down the barrel of unemployment and/or underemployment and need to be prepared for this reality with solid plans B and C. I’m lucky my department is supportive of my non-academic plans and pay well, but a lot of people are sleepwalking into debt and depression.” By acknowledging these realities and taking proactive steps to address them, faculty can help their students navigate a challenging future and find success, wherever that may be. Emotional, candid support is necessary, but more so is the practical support graduate programs and their faculty offer students headed into any number of careers. If there is to be a future for the graduate study of religion, we must rethink and retool (to borrow from the title of a WebinAAR hosted by the Academic Relations Committee, available here) graduate education and mentorship to meet the realities our students face today.
Resources for Faculty
“Religious Studies Beyond the Discipline: A Manifesto on Earning and Awarding a Ph.D.” by Andrew Ali Aghapour, Shannon Trosper Schorey, Thomas J. Whitley, Vaia Touna, and Russell T. McCutcheon. Bulletin for the Study of Religion 51/3–4 (2023): 83–92.
WebinAARs
Graduate Students Today: A Guide for the Perplexed
Retooling Graduate Education in the Study of Religion
Podcasts
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