Following up on the data from the other day, I've expanded it a bit, and also noted the 2002 PGR rank and the 2011 PGR rank. Total number of graduates during the period follows the school name.
School |
2002 PGR Rank |
2011 PGR Rank |
% in TT jobs |
% in TT jobs at ranked PhD programs |
% in TT jobs at top 20 programs |
% in TT jobs at research universities and SLACs |
New York University (23) |
1 |
1 |
87% |
61% |
48% |
83% |
Rutgers University, New Brunswick (36) |
1 |
2 |
92% |
53% |
22% |
58% |
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (31) |
4 |
4 |
94% |
10% |
0% |
61% |
UC Los Angeles (21) |
8 |
11 |
81% |
33% |
14% |
43% |
Yale University (16) |
16 |
7 |
94% |
31% |
19% |
63% |
University of Notre Dame (36) |
14 |
18 |
75% |
6% |
0% |
28% |
University of Chicago (30) |
16 |
20 |
77% |
17% |
7% |
43% |
UC Riverside (23) |
32 |
31 |
74% |
4% |
0% |
13% |
Northwestern University (21) |
46 |
31 |
76% |
5% |
0% |
62% |
Boston University (35) |
42 |
44 |
63% |
3% |
0% |
20% |
I knew from the past (though I had not posted about this) that there would be a very strong correlation between overall PGR rank and placement in ranked programs, research universities, and SLACs (this is true in every academic field, not just philosophy); what surprised me in this little exercise was how much correlation there was between PGR rank and overall tenure-track placement. Of course, the numbers are small, and if two or three people made different decisions (to accept the tenure-track job rather than the post-doc; not to be the trailing spouse for the other's academic career; etc.) the results would be different; so, too, if I had used a different window. (Just after this window, one UC Riverside graduate got a permanent post in a ranked PhD program, while another got a tenure-track position in a research oriented MA-granting program. I treated the ranked terminal MA programs as research university appointments, and I used U.S. News rankings of liberal arts colleges as a rough cut-off for SLACs.)
At the end of the day, bear in mind that even within department, placement success often tracks which faculty you work with. That's why it pays for students to scrutinize placement records carefully. Years ago, as longtime readers will know, I "bullied" departments into posting detailed placement records (by threatening to call them out in the PGR if they didn't). (I put "bullied' in quotes for the obvious reasons: it's now a meaningless term, but it was hurled about then, and at least it was true that I did threaten a real consequence if departments did not produce information.)
One other takeaway, that I expect will be confirmed by a more extensive study along these lines: all else being more or less equal, "brand name" universities still enjoy a slight advantage in job placement. But more on that once we have more information.
UPDATE: U.S. Research universities, for purposes here, were AAU universities, universities with PhD programs (ranked or not), and ranked terminal MA programs; outside the US, it gets a bit trickier, but in general any places more or less analagous to these was so counted.
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