YoungFemaleScientist: On switching fields.

"Even worse, if you're straddling fields, departments don't want you because they don't know where to put you. There's a lot of lip service about 'interdisciplinary' and 'cross-departmental partnerships' and yada yada, but in reality most departments are still very old-fashioned and provincial, and they want candidates who are that way, too." Boy, does that hit home! I'm nearing the end of my PhD and am coming out of an 'interdisciplinary' program/group. Just starting my job search, but am already encountering a lot of head-scratching as to how I would fit into the more "classical" departments. Definitely feel like a round peg trying to fit in a square hole, but am trying to remain naively optimistic that something will pan out. If I only knew then, what I know now...

"Even worse, if you're straddling fields, departments don't want you because they don't know where to put you. There's a lot of lip service about 'interdisciplinary' and 'cross-departmental partnerships' and yada yada, but in reality most departments are still very old-fashioned and provincial, and they want candidates who are that way, too." Boy, does that hit home! I'm nearing the end of my PhD and am coming out of an 'interdisciplinary' program/group. Just starting my job search, but am already encountering a lot of head-scratching as to how I would fit into the more "classical" departments