<p>I’m currently writing my SOP for bioscience programs. I’m saying that following graduation I may pursue either a position in academia or industry depending on the climate at the time, and where I can be most effective.</p>
<p>Would this be a red flag to faculty on adcoms with a bias against industry? I’m just being realistic that the current phd job market sucks. Should I just lie and say I’m an academic til I die, no matter what?</p>
<p>No, there is little industry bias today among faculty because everyone is fully aware of the hiring climate. I wouldn’t spend much time on it, but that alone won’t negatively affect you.</p>
<p>Not in the biosciences. FWIW, I wrote that I wanted to work as a researcher at a government agency in my SoP for a health sciences program and I still got in. As long as you make it clear you want a RESEARCH career, you should be fine. (Now if you say that you want to be a management consultant, you may have an issue.)</p>
<p>Focus primarily on your past preparation and your research interests, as well as what the particular program can do for you, in your SoP.</p>
<p>I have seen a bit of both in engineering - some professors (especially at TOP schools) really want to bring in future academics, but with something like 80% of engineering PhD’s going to research labs and industry most advisors will be fine with candidates who don’t want to be academics.</p>