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April 18, 2006

Yay! Ph.d. completion rates at 50%

Here you can read one of the first articles I remember in a newspaper about the dismal rates of completion for Ph.d. programs.

Educators said they used to believe that so many dropped out because they weren't tough or smart enough to complete the rigorous research and dissertation course required to get a PhD, which, on average, takes six years.

The truth is more complicated, they say.

"If we knew which 50 percent wouldn't complete their program, we'd be better off, but we don't," said Adam F. Falk, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University.

Some students, for example, have family, financial or health issues that make it impossible to stay in a full-time program; some students have doctoral advisers with whom it is difficult -- or impossible -- to work. Some aren't a good fit for their program; others decide a master's degree is enough to get a great job.

It's not much, but it's a start.

I'm glad that educators aren't as condescending as they used to be. Not smart enough? That was never the problem; plenty of not-as-smart-as-everyone-else people finish, but it's easy for people with a Ph.d. and a tenured or tenure track job to believe in merit - especially their own. After all, the system chose them as the best candidate for a position, right? Right?

I'm only in year 7 and I've seen enough job searches from this side of the table now to know that my outsider impression as a job seeker was pretty accurate - the academic job search process is deeply flawed from the get go. Maybe academics aren't always culpable (or indictable?), but they're very little room to argue that the process from the start, from the point when a department makes an argument about what field is to be hired for, is equitable or will generate the "best" candidate except by magic.

And how on earth can anyone say that programs take on average of 6 years, you ask? Oh, it's the scientists. NONE of them get jobs with a fresh degree. American academe (which is far too disorganized to be a conspiracy, but what else can you call it?) can keep the time-to-completion down a little bit by graduating them quickly and then demanding several (or many, if that's what it takes) years of post-docs.

Posted by CrankyProfessor at April 18, 2006 3:12 PM