A young philosopher writes:
Prospective students really should look into the placement records of departments they are interested in, not just by looking at department websites, but also by speaking to current students and faculty. Despite your efforts, and the general improvement in how departments report their placement results, some departments--even quite distinguished ones--continue to report misleading or incomplete information.
I know of one case in particular: one major department omits any mention of two graduate students who applied for jobs in 2008/2009 but received no offers. I suspect the department attempts to justify this omission on the grounds that these two students had not yet received their degrees. However, as far as I can tell, nowhere on its website does the department clearly indicate that some students who applied for jobs are not included in the data. The closest they come to hinting that they omit some job searches by ABDs is a subtle switch on their website from writing about placement information for their graduate students to writing about placement information for their *graduates*. This is surely is misleading. And the department does report on *successful* job searches by its ABDs (even when those students begin their employment before defending). The end result is an inflated picture of the department's success in placing its graduate students in academic jobs. Furthermore, for the current 2009/2010 job market, the department lists its successful candidates, but not those who have yet to receive offers. This is, perhaps, slightly more justifiable, since the market is on-going and offers may yet be forthcoming. Still, the upshot is that the department's website inflates their placement record.
As "incomplete" information goes, this department's situation is less serious than some others, on which I may comment in the future.
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