Grad School Suggestions: In Marriage, Diversify

Oh boy, interesting discussion on the Chronicle forums lately about spousal hires here. What this leads me to suggest is that it is a bad idea to marry from within the ranks of other grad students, unless one of you was always planning on working in industry or is willing to make this switch. It seems that schools don't do spousal hires as often as you'd think, though it seems if the spouse is research-side and grant-winning, that seems to work.



Perhaps my advice should be "upon marriage, one spouse should drop out of PhD program to start MBA/law degree," because if you didn't already know it, there are low odds of a couple independently winning good positions in the same city, especially if they are in the same discipline, and most especially if they are in the same subfield. We may not like the implications of this, but it's better to know these harsh job market realities before it comes down to brass tacks, like in a failed dual-academic, same sub-discipline job search.