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I use 'the academy' in this way, but a friend pulled me up on it and suggested that it was not correct. It had never occured to me before that it could be wrong, but I'm now struggling to find examples of this usage online.

Perhaps if it's capitalised, it makes better sense: e.g., "I plan to pursue a Masters degree and eventually enter the Academy."

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    Using "the Academy" suggests you're joining a particular institution rather than academia in general.
    – KillingTime
    Commented Apr 28 at 16:22
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    In twenty years, I don't remember ever having heard the academy used this way, to mean something like 'the world of academia' until around a year ago. Now I hear it all the time at my university, and have even attended talks in the last few weeks where this sense of the word academy has been in the title of the talk (I'm not really commenting on the capitalisation issue, but it was capitalised in at least one of those talks - butwas in the title).
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    Commented Apr 29 at 9:08
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    Who is your audience? Unless you're speaking to fellow academicians, anyone hearing you plan to "enter the Academy" are likely going to ask you which specific academy you're planning to attend.
    – barbecue
    Commented Apr 29 at 13:17
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    The capitalization actually creates an issue, the academy would be correct, referring to academia as a whole, the Academy capitalized would refer to a specific Academy.
    – Andrew
    Commented Apr 29 at 13:32
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    In my experience ("in the academy", in the US, in STEM), I've heard the phrase much more among my colleagues in the humanities; STEM people tend to say "in academia". I have also never heard "the academy" used so by someone who is not an academician!
    – elutionary
    Commented Apr 29 at 15:03

5 Answers 5

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The OED gives it a pass:

academy noun
6. North American. With the. The academic community; the world of university scholarship; = academia n. 2. 1977–
1977   I think students now are much more likely to have one foot in the real world and one foot in the academy all the way through their educational experience. —K. Brewster in MacNeil/Lehrer Rep. (transcript of TV programme) 11 April
2012   I have lived the most blessed of lives in the academy. Eight years at Union, three years when I first tenured at Yale, six years at Princeton. —New York Magazine 14 May 24/2
Source: Oxford English Dictionary (login required)

It appears to be used by—guess who—academics. You can find examples of “join the academy” used like this by searching "academia" "join the academy" "higher education" at Google Books.

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    This is the correct answer, but it's also an obscure use. As such, it is usually not going to be a good choice for clear communication.
    – fectin
    Commented Apr 29 at 12:44
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    probably important to note that this is not capitalised, unlike the use OP suggests in the question
    – Tristan
    Commented Apr 29 at 13:23
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    Worth noting that pretty much all of the instances I can find use "the academy" as an alternative phrasing is a document heavily contextualized as being about academia. But in an isolated statement without further context, "the academy" suggests to me a specific institute or perhaps military service.
    – Nuclear Hoagie
    Commented Apr 29 at 15:00
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    The obscurity definitely gives a different tonal effect to its use too. In the UK one might use it to convey a traditionalist or reverential regard for academia (be it sincere or for ironic effect). It's a little more common to use when referring to the active dynamics within academia, where "the academy" lends greater personhood to the collective "hive mind" entity academia can sometimes be characterised as embodying.
    – Will
    Commented Apr 30 at 14:14
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    As someone who spent around a decade and a half in Academia, albeit not in the US, if I heard anyone, especially an American, saying they would join the academy, I would assume they were referring to the National Academy of Science.
    – terdon
    Commented Apr 30 at 17:49
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I'm unfortunate in having relatives who are doctors. Actually, it's not that they're doctors which is the problem. Rather, it's the fact that they have no sense of register.

Register, when discussing the English language, is often thought to refer to the level of formality of the English being used. Amongst highfalutin' applied linguists and highly-qualified EFL professionals, however, it refers to a style of language used by a particular speech-community (i.e. a group of people who talk to each other as a closed community), in a specific context.

As an example, the terms valid argument and sound argument have a specific meaning that is quite different from what they mean in other contexts when used by academic philosophers and logicians—in other words when used in a philosophical register. In conversational everyday language, a 'valid argument' might be one that's well-substantiated or is based on common sense. A sound argument would mean something similar. However, in philosophy a valid argument is one which is guaranteed to be true by virtue of its form - if its assumptions are true. Consider the following:

  1. George Bush is mortal. (assumption)
  2. Men are mortal. (assumption)
  3. Therefore George Bush is a man. (conclusion)

The conclusion of this argument is true. The assumptions are also true. However, it is not valid, in the philosophical sense, because arguments of the same form may be false, even if their assumptions are true. Consider:

  1. George Bush is mortal.
  2. Blue bottomed baboons are mortal.
  3. Therefore George Bush is a blue bottomed baboon.

Here we see that (6) is false. An argument in the form of (1-3) or (4-6) is not guaranteed to be true just because its assumptions are true. This argument is not valid in the sense that word has when used in a philosophical register.

So, back to my medical family members. Excruciatingly embarrassingly for me and other more linguistically sensitive friends, my family have no sense of register. They use words and phrases—that would be acceptable, if not expected, in a medical context with other medical professionals, or with patients—in non-medical situations and environments when it is completely inappropriate.

One of many examples: it was not unheard of for one of these people to say in a restaurant "Excuse me, my son needs to pass faeces, where are the toilets?" instead of just asking where the restroom/loos were or saying that their son needed to go to the toilet. Similar cases abounded with questions to young children like "Do you need to urinate?". These types of phrases are quite normal, but only in a medical register!

I have only recently become familiar with the term the academy to refer to the world of academia or similar. However, I have suddenly started hearing it a lot over the past year or two. I am fairly confident that it is only used in a formal academic register, when the topic of academia is itself being discussed. In other words, even within the sociology or historiography of academia, it is a piece of affected metalanguage.

Is it the right phrase when used outside of that particular environment? I think probably not. Not because it will break some rule of English, but because it's in the wrong register; firstly, your conversant may not understand exactly what you're saying, and secondly, because even if they do, you may sound like you're from a different planet.

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  • I don't think your restaurant example is really an instance of wrong register but rather "too much information". You could quite easily translate it out of a medical register, but it would still be inappropriate.
    – Especially Lime
    Commented Apr 30 at 8:44
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    @EspeciallyLime Probably yes, you're right. But the register made it worse. "Excuse me, where are the loos, my son needs to go for a number 2" might be too much information, but it's not as toe curling as "pass faeces", I promise!
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    Commented Apr 30 at 8:59
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    The last two paragraphs of this answer (which are essentially the same as your earlier, hence deleted, answer) constitute an apt response to the question, but the lengthy explanation of what a register is, that precedes them, seems unnecessary. Register is frequently used term on this site and is usually presumed to be known to its audience; those who are not familiar with it can, in any event, easily learn what it means elsewhere.
    – jsw29
    Commented Apr 30 at 16:38
  • If there is a difference in register between academy and academia, it is very subtle, as academia is itself a relatively formal term, mostly used by those within the academia. People outside it are more likely to say something like university teachers and researchers.
    – jsw29
    Commented Apr 30 at 16:38
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    @jsw29 Actually, as mentioned, the term is often used on this site with reference to formality, which is not the sense discussed here. Hence the unsuitability of the comment: academia is itself a very formal term etc. The term academia (not "the academia") is used in all kinds of registers. The suggestion that it's confined to an academic register is plain silly. Any old person may say to any old person "My daughter works in academia", whereas they wouldn't say "My daughter has entered the academy" to mean the same thing.
    – Araucaria - Not here any more.
    Commented Apr 30 at 20:09
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I've never heard anyone say: "join the academy". Thinking about it, I'd say "become an academic".

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The interpretation of "the Academy" depends very much on context. While it can refer to academia -- faculty and researchers at colleges and universities -- there are also many academies organized for specific occupations and fields of study.

For instance, to someone in the movie-making industry "the Academy" would most likely refer to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (also often called the Motion Picture Academy), the organization most well known for sponsoring the Academy Awards (aka Oscars). Similarly, in the TV industry it would mean the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Emmy Awards.

Even among academics, in the sciences it might refer to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, a prestigious honor society.

Using the definite article "the" suggests that you're referring to a specific academy, so the listener is likely to assume you're referring to one of the organizations like the above, in whatever field you practice. It's better to say "academia" and avoid that suggestion.

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No. There is a specific meaning, from Merriam-Webster for

academia
the life, community, or world of teachers, schools, and education

You might be going to study at a military academy, an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the military. However, a military life is not academia.

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    Merriam Webster: the functions of the academy in modern society. I would say there is...
    – Lambie
    Commented Apr 28 at 19:08
  • I can imagine a rookie saying "What ho! I am joining academia" when they go off to the academy. Tongue in cheek.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Apr 28 at 19:43
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    Even if one takes into account Lambie's and Araucaria's pointing out that academy is sometimes used this way, such use is highly unusual, and it would be unwise for the OP to emulate it. In addition to academia being a much better word than academy for the OP's purpose, to give a complete answer to the OP, it should be said that join is an awkward word to use here, unless one intends to playfully analogise the academia to the institutions that people are commonly said to join.
    – jsw29
    Commented Apr 28 at 21:15
  • @jsw29 The use is not unusual in academic articles. What is unusual is to say a person is "joining" it.
    – Lambie
    Commented Apr 28 at 21:44

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