A Princeton Ph.D. Applied to 2,300 Jobs. He Still Can’t Get One.

JACK WEIS likes to joke that he’s just another unemployed guy living in his parents’ basement. That leaves out a few key details: The Salt Lake City native has applied to more than 2,300 jobs since he graduated from Princeton in 2024 with his Ph.D. in chemical engineering. And he still doesn’t have a job.He first pursued corporate science jobs and prestigious postdoctoral fellowships at national laboratories. Then he cast a wider net, applying to software engineering and other roles. Eventually, he was getting ghosted for food-preparation jobs, including at a company that sells frozen crab cakes. For a time, Weis got a gig training AI on his expertise, including in engineering and fluid mechanics. That work dried up too.Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8