Doing a Graduate Degree at Australian Catholic University (ACU)?

[ak71]

Hey guys,

Sorry in advance if there's an unnecessary complexity in my question. I might need to make a decision some time soon, so I thought to put it all out at once. (I'm underlining what I think are the crucial parameters.)

ACU just hired a number of world-class philosophers, and, according to PGR, it may be ranked between 5 to 10 in the next year's ranking in certain fields (metaphysics, language, metaethics, epistemology). They announced the graduate program a month ago (the deadline for applying is in 2 days or so), and my research work lines up perfectly well with one of the faculty members', who is young a and very active in his field. I have applied to the PhD program and I'm wondering what I should do if I get admitted: one the one hand, the names of the hires in my field are looking good; and on the other hand ACU is an obscure school in its entity, and I could in principle wait and see if I can get admitted to some top, well-known US/UK programs, in the next couple of months (which may or may not happen). Would it be worth graduating from ACU, given that it has *just* started off, even if I will have some big names from there behind me, in the future? What are your general thoughts om the program?

Thanks!

PS: has anyone else applied to the program?

[tmck3053]

Just in general, regardless of the quality of faculty and rankings, there is a very big difference between doing a philosophy PhD in the US (and some top UK programs) and doing a PhD in Australia. In general, there is minimal coursework and often no 'program' to speak of. The idea is basically that from the beginning you are developing and writing a thesis and that is more or less what you are there to do. As a result you typically are funded for 3.5 years with an option for another semester. The university itself often has little control over extending or providing extra funding because the scholarships come from the government generally.

The result of the above (and other factors, I imagine) is often that as you emerge with a PhD from an Australian university you are competitive roughly only for Australian jobs (of which there are not very many and an increasing amount of applicants with shiny US-based PhDs) and a smathering of UK jobs. Of course, the job market is a mess for everyone, and so gambling on certain advantages may not be the best idea. That being said, it is certainly worth considering whether you'd like to go to a program that is extremely unlikely to make you competitive for any US-based jobs.

Now a caveat: I did my undergrad at the University of Sydney and am now at a program in the US, and so while most of what I say above should generalise (for instance, funding situations), some things may not. I feel like ANU are attempting to model their program more on a US-model, as much as can be done within the Australian university structure, and are doing better placement-wise. Perhaps ACU are going to attempt to do something along the same lines. It would be sensible for philosophy departments to at least try to do that. But I strongly suspect that any attempt to get such a reorientation going will take a while, by which time you'll have already started and finished your PhD.

I'm happy to elaborate on any of this and of course it's your life and if the names that are being brought over are the kind of people that get you out of bed in the morning then that's a consideration worth taking seriously. But it's also worth knowing that you are [1] not applying to a graduate 'program' that will look anything like what you might expect from a US-based program, and [2] partly for other reasons and partly because of [1], Australian PhD graduates in philosophy are competitive primarily for Australian jobs (virtually no Australian PhDs get American jobs), an increasing proportion of which are going to candidates from shiny US-based programs. 

In short, there's a reason that there are plenty of Australians kicking around US-based programs. The standard of undergraduate education is (in my opinion) very high, but something of a one-sized-fits-all approach to funding structures, degree times, coursework expectations, etc. makes it a very different PhD experience to the US in ways that are not necessarily good medium-term.

[ak71]

Thank you so much -- this is very helpful! Honestly I don't have a burning desire to do my PhD at ACU (or in general anywhere else than in the US/UK) either, and what you said makes a lot of sense to me. It's just that right now I'm a second year PhD student in a very bad program and I'm being tortured in various ways, so the first thing in my mind was to just 'run away' and get to any program which is better than here, the first chance I get. ACU, at least as far as the names in there are concerned, sounded more promising than here, and I might have a chance to get admitted. That said, and in the spirit of what you said, I think it still makes sense to perhaps wait a few more months and shoot for some top schools in the US/UK.

Edited October 16, 2020 by ak71