I found some of the phrasing in the NYT article odd, and this sentence clued me into why: &quot;The authors, who did not get postdoctoral degrees themselves ...&quot;<p>I think the NYT reporter thinks that people in postdocs are pursuing another degree. They are not. It&#x27;s just a way for people with PhDs to remain in academia, doing research, so that they can build up their publication list to land tenure-track academic positions. (And, sometimes, even industry positions.) Perhaps what the study authors told the NYT reporter that they did not do postdocs, and the NYT reporter translated that to &quot;did not get postdoctoral degrees&quot;.<p>I agree this is a holding pattern, as the author says it is. But it&#x27;s not quite &quot;back to school&quot;, as the title implies. (I know the person who wrote the article probably did not supply the title, but I suspect they both have the same confusion.) They&#x27;re not pursuing another degree.