Philosophy PhD student Charles Bakker writes:
I have always appreciated your efforts to help prospective graduate students make informed decisions as they consider which philosophy programs to apply to. In light of where things are at currently in our field - the shuttering of philosophy departments around the world, the attacks on academia by the U.S. government, the general lack of funding for graduate students [BL: in some departments, in some the funding is very good], and the already hyper-competitive job market for recent PhD graduates - I would be curious to know what your guidance would now be to a prospective philosophy graduate student. Would you recommend that they think twice about entering a program? Would you advise them not to expect to get a job for X number of years on average after graduating? Bear in mind that as departments close, as more and more courses get offloaded to cheaper contract instructors, and as tenure gets stripped away in places controlled by right wing ideologues, the number of experienced academics entering the job market also increases, making it even less likely that junior academics will find a place in academia.
The first five weeks of Trump II--which have been a disaster, worse than even I expected (and my expectations were low)--adds to all these concerns, since Trump II promises to be very bad for higher education in the U.S. (I'll write more about that soon.) Still my advice now would simply be a variation on the advice I've given individual students for the last 15 years or so (on the assumption that someone is getting a PhD with an eye to earning a living as a PhD philosopher): do not go to a graduate program unless you get funding; and only go to a top PhD program, if not overall, then at least in your field. What is a "top PhD program"? Top 20ish in the U.S. is a reasonable cut-off, with any other Anglophone program ranked equivalent being comparable. Examples of "top" in a specialty would be UC Irvine's program in "Logic and Philosophy of Science." These are good rules of thumb. If you are considering schools not in these categories, scrutinize the placement data carefully. There are far too many schools offering a PhD in philosophy, as we have noted before, and if these PhD programs are adequately funding their students, then that is something. But I do think now is an especially important moment for PhD programs in the U.S. to think about whether they ought to exist. Terminal M.A. programs (which I started emphasizing in the PGR a quarter-century ago) have played a very important role in helping develop students for success in PhD programs and also helping students figure out whether an academic career is for them. The profession, especially given what's coming, could benefit from more good terminal MA programs and fewer PhD programs.
I would invite perspectives from readers but you must include a full name if you are a faculty member and, regardless, a valid email address (which will not appear).
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