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The Ph.D. Placement Project

Investigating graduate placement rates.

Posts from The Ph.D. Placement Project

Vital Questions About Tracking Placement Data

The Council of Graduate Schools should focus on questions like “Who are the stakeholders who need to be won over?,” writes L. Maren Wood.

3 Things I’ve Learned About Ph.D. Students and Placement

Two dozen interviews with students and professors raise the question of whether collecting good data on employment outcomes, even if feasible, will make much of a difference to prospective students.

The Ph.D.-Industry Gap

His professors told him that with a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University, he would have no trouble on the industry job market. That wasn’t the case.

What Informational Interviews Can Do for You

What exactly are they? And how can they help Ph.D.'s looking to leave academe? L. Maren Wood provides some answers.

‘The Afternoon I Decided to Leave Academe'--and What Happened Next

A history Ph.D. explains her difficult choice to seek nonacademic employment because of the weak tenure-track job market.

Open-Mindedness and the Ph.D. Placement Problem

If anyone can untangle the knotty problem of Ph.D. placement, it must be academics, writes Alexandra Lord.

What Associations Have to Say

Some disciplinary organizations are already trying to track the employment prospects of their Ph.D.'s, and many also have expressed interest in participating in The Chronicle’s project.

We’re Moving on 2 Fronts

The next steps for the Ph.D. Placement Project involve collecting data and making data that already exist more easily accessible and searchable. Readers are welcome to pitch in.

The Challenges of Gathering Data on Ph.D. Placements

Readers shared ideas about what would be the hardest part of gathering reliable data. High on their lists were concerns about privacy, accuracy, and finding graduates.

What Were You Told When You Applied?

Departments provide would-be graduate students with job-placement data ranging from the helpful to the vague to the exaggerated, survey respondents said. But most said departments provide no information at all.
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