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Regardless of what I could or could not do in theory, I would feel quite badly about accepting a job at a university and then quitting to join a bank before I taught a single class. For me, this isn't just an issue of honesty and respect. My adviser and my co-authors have written letters on my behalf and have stuck their necks out for me in order to get academic offers. If I were to treat the people that have offered me academic jobs poorly it would reflect negatively upon my advisers and co-authors. I will not do that to them.Additionally, I don't want to burn any bridges in academia or industry. If I am up front about what my options are with banks and universities, and if I stick with my decision (at least for a few years), then nobody will have reason to be pissed at me down the road.

QuoteOriginally posted by: psyduckRegardless of what I could or could not do in theory, I would feel quite badly about accepting a job at a university and then quitting to join a bank before I taught a single class. For me, this isn't just an issue of honesty and respect. My adviser and my co-authors have written letters on my behalf and have stuck their necks out for me in order to get academic offers. If I were to treat the people that have offered me academic jobs poorly it would reflect negatively upon my advisers and co-authors. I will not do that to them.Additionally, I don't want to burn any bridges in academia or industry. If I am up front about what my options are with banks and universities, and if I stick with my decision (at least for a few years), then nobody will have reason to be pissed at me down the road.this is all good ... very honourable and all that. But don't expect life to fit in nicely so that you can always make the right decision by all. I suspect what will happen is that you will not find out about the finance positions till march or april in which it will be too late to do the right thing.

QuoteOriginally posted by: psyduckAdditionally, I don't want to burn any bridges in academia or industry.What Do You Care What Other People Think?Seriously do you care more about your career or the opinions of others? A fully hedged portfolio never makes any money...

@daveangelI completely agree. It is much easier to state good intentions than it is to follow through on them. If neither of the banks give me anything firm before my academic deadlines, then (at this point at least) I will take one of the academic jobs. Now, obviously if I do that, and a bank comes to me and says, "hey, we'd like to hire you for 10 million dollars a year" then I'd probably quit my academic job in a heart-beat. I know that isn't a realistic scenario. I'm just trying to illustrate that, like you said, it is hard to follow through on good intentions.@ArthurDentI don't care, per se, of what people think of me -- certainly not people that I barely know. But, I do care that my actions don't reflect poorly on others, especially if they are my friends and colleagues. Like I said previously, taking a job at a university and then cutting and running would reflect poorly on my adviser and my co-authors. So it isn't something I would consider at this point.Additionally, it has been my experience that a cut-throat, winner-take-all attitude doesn't get you very far in life. No matter how smart you are, at some point you are going to depend on others for help.

What some of you may fail to appreciate is that the hiring process in the academia looks a bit different. It involves a lot more personal contacts with various people acting on your behalf. Hence, ditching the group who hired you 6 months after starting will be seen differently than if it was a bank. You may well end up bringing trouble to people who helped you just because they liked you.

QuoteOriginally posted by: katastrofaWhat some of you may fail to appreciate is that the hiring process in the academia looks a bit different. It involves a lot more personal contacts with various people acting on your behalf. Hence, ditching the group who hired you 6 months after starting will be seen differently than if it was a bank. You may well end up bringing trouble to people who helped you just because they liked you.I think this sums up much more clearly what I was trying to say. There is no doubt in my mind that the academic offers I have are in large part due to my adviser and my other letter writers knowing people at other institutions. So, if my adviser calls up one of his friends and says: "hire psyduck because he's honest, works well with others, and is decently intelligent" and then I do something which contradicts that, there's no question that this will diminish my adviser's reputation among his colleagues.