MOVING TO FRONT AGAIN (ORIGINALLY POSTED MARCH 11): Discussion continues in the comments
Not quite twenty years ago, I began pressing philosophy departments to provide comprehensive placement information on their homepages. That effort was largely successful, and the average philosophy PhD program typically makes available better placement information than the average PhD program in other fields. But periodically the issue arises about how accurate or complete this information is. For example, a Wisconsin graduate (who is employed) wrote the other day as follows:
I wanted to make a follow up comment to your latest post about academic placement. I often wonder how accurate departmental descriptions of placement history are. For instance, I graduated from UW–Madison. On the Department's placement history, there are a number of people listed as "Did Not Seek Academic Employment" who in fact did seek such employment. They simply didn't get academic employment, and eventually gave up. "Does Not Seek Academic Employment" is a more accurate descriptor. (I'm not one of these people, just to be clear.)
I wonder how common this practice is.
I'm opening comments for other examples: please include links. And representatives of any of the departments named are free to post explanations or corrections as well.
