Academia or Industry? Recent Graduate Says Internships Can Help Ph.D. Students Make the Right Choice

While many doctoral students know from the start whether they want to go into academia or industry, some don’t make that decision until closer to the end of their journey.

Sichen Jin, who graduated in the spring with a Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing, said students in this situation should make good use of their internships.

Jin speaks from experience because she wasn’t sure which path to take when she started her Ph.D.

“I think that was always an open question to me,” she said. “I was debating between them a lot. I know my first two or three years, I wanted to make sure I got to know what research was like and then try the industry experience.”

Knowing she would complete at least two internships at Georgia Tech, she decided to base her decision on those experiences.