They help design computer software or fighter-jet cockpits. They work as researchers for pharmaceutical conglomerates or testing companies. These high-paying jobs are the carrots drawing students away from the academy. There's a stick as well. The academic life, at least in psychology, has gotten more demanding.
Grants are tighter, publishing is harder, and bureaucratic layers seem thicker.
Students look at their mentors and see a life they might not want. It's partly a result of changes in the economy, but also there was a time when, if you went nonacademic, there was a sense that you failed. There are some people who still feel that way, but not everyone. There's a sense that people should find a job that's right for them, rather than satisfy some preconceived notion of what's prestigious. The shift has Philip Zimbardo, the new president-elect of the American Psychological Association and a professor at Stanford University, concerned.