MA program rankings

[philstudent1991]

Some in the philosophical community have suggested that, given the rise of terminal MAs, the PGR ought to rank them as well. This is a primitive attempt to measure program prestige among this community, more out of curiosity than anything. Mark the 5 programs that you believe most deserve a spot in the top 5. There is no order, and ONLY mark 5 or the sample is skewed. Please suggest other programs if necessary. I am only including terminal MAs, which is why Arizona State is not on there since they recently restarted their PhD program. I'm open to suggestions to improve polling, but this poll system is admittedly quite limited.

Edited April 12, 2014 by philstudent1991

[Zukunftsmusik]

Rank them in terms of what? Faculty quality/reputation? (I don't think I'd be a good judge of that) Placement?

[dgswaim]

I just don't like rankings. I don't have a good argument against them... I'm just not fond.

[Establishment]

Leiter used to rank the MA's into tiers.

 

In any case, my top 5 terminal MA's: Tufts, Brandeis, UWM, NIU, Virginia Tech

[philstudent1991]

You can use whatever criterion you want. I know some value placement, some value funding, some value particular faculty strengths, and most value some combination of these. Use your own judgment and criteria.

[MattDest]

I'll be interested to hear what others have to say, but I don't feel comfortable ranking them myself. Not only am I partial to certain schools, but I don't really feel I am a good judge about the overall quality of faculty, or about placement records (without having more information from all of them). 

[ianfaircloud]

I'll be interested to hear what others have to say, but I don't feel comfortable ranking them myself. Not only am I partial to certain schools, but I don't really feel I am a good judge about the overall quality of faculty, or about placement records (without having more information from all of them). 

 

I ranked them. But as I've said elsewhere, overall rankings are highly subjective, because they depend on what different individuals happen to believe makes the best programs. My ranking is based on placement. Even that is a bit subjective. Who's to say that CUNY is better overall than Washington University in St. Louis? Yet many of our rankings based on placement would place WUSTL much lower than CUNY.

 

Overall though, I like polls.

[MattDest]

I ranked them. But as I've said elsewhere, overall rankings are highly subjective, because they depend on what different individuals happen to believe makes the best programs. My ranking is based on placement. Even that is a bit subjective. Who's to say that CUNY is better overall than Washington University in St. Louis? Yet many of our rankings based on placement would place WUSTL much lower than CUNY.

 

Overall though, I like polls.

 

While the highly subjective aspect of polls like this is a problem, I think the bigger problem is that most of us don't know very much about these departments. One of the good things about the PGR is that these faculty have tons of experience in the field, and know about the reputation of various departments. New and prospective graduate students aren't the best people to poll about the quality of graduate programs. 

 

Polls are useful when the target population is well-informed. 

[philstudent1991]

The PGR kinda reminds me of the coaches poll in college football. It seems like college football coaches would be great people to poll about college football, and they are in some ways, but in other ways they aren't (they are much more focused on their conference than the national stage, likely don't watch games of non-conference teams, have a pretty big work load so don't watch much sports tv, etc.). Phil professors I imagine fit some of these same worries, i.e. a Kant scholar might not know a damn thing about phil mind. I know they poll people based on specialties but the reality is that no faculty is really going to get a fair shake all the way down the line. Even the PGR is subjective and based on hearsay at times, and this poll obviously is lightyears behind that. But we actually know quite a lot about MA reputations, and while we aren't qualified to assess faculty quality, we do know what our perceptions of reputation are, and have full access to funding and placement info as well.

[Mather]

...we actually know quite a lot about MA reputations, and while we aren't qualified to assess faculty quality, we do know what our perceptions of reputation are, and have full access to funding and placement info as well.

 

I don't think it is the case that we have full access to the placement records of MA programs. At least, not all such placement records are equally transparent. Take for instance, the placement records of UWM and GSU. Whereas UWM indicates the school at which each student enrolled, GSU indicates the school(s) at which each student was accepted as well as the one at which he or she ultimately enrolled. Sure, UWM also lists all the schools at which any student in the program was accepted. But, for any given year, it is possible, as far as one can tell by looking just at the placement record, that those additional acceptances were received by just one student. Yet, it seems, to me at least, that how widely distributed students' acceptances are for a given year makes a significant difference when it comes to evaluating these sorts of programs. And, just taking a quick peek, it looks as though at least Tufts and Brandeis provide just the same sort of info as UWM.

 

Even after having graduated from one of the programs listed and spoken with some students from most of the others, I still don't feel confident that I know enough to rank the programs in any helpful way.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Mather

[TheVineyard]

I'm only voting for Tufts because it is so clearly head-and-shoulders above all other MA programs in Philosophy. Also, based on the voting patterns, at least someone didn't vote them as one of the best 5, which means at least that user has absolutely no idea about MA programs...which then makes me wonder why we have this poll =P

Edited April 12, 2014 by TheVineyard

[SamStone]

...at least someone didn't vote them as one of the best 5, which means at least that user has absolutely no idea about MA programs...which then makes me wonder why we have this poll =P

 

I think you are being a little presumptuous here. I did not vote for Tufts in my ranking, and I do have an idea about the programs. 

According to the OP, who created the poll, there is no set criteria as to how one ranks them. 

 

You can use whatever criterion you want. I know some value placement, some value funding, some value particular faculty strengths, and most value some combination of these. Use your own judgment and criteria.

 

I am a person who values funding. I applied to many of the programs in the poll, Tufts purposefully not being among them...not because I thought it was a bad school, and not because I didn't think it was worth applying to based on faculty or placement, etc. but because there is absolutely no way that I am willing to go in debt on tuition and living expenses in the city. 

I'm sure Tufts is a great school, but I chose not to rank it top-5 based on the criterion I had when I applied to the programs

[Ulixes]

I like this poll, given that it's meant to measure program prestige among the TGC community; it does that quite well. Wanting the poll to do (or be) something else isn't really in line with what Philstudent1991 started the poll for.

 

You might consider adding Western Michigan University?

[ianfaircloud]

I don't think it is the case that we have full access to the placement records of MA programs. At least, not all such placement records are equally transparent. Take for instance, the placement records of UWM and GSU. Whereas UWM indicates the school at which each student enrolled, GSU indicates the school(s) at which each student was accepted as well as the one at which he or she ultimately enrolled. Sure, UWM also lists all the schools at which any student in the program was accepted. But, for any given year, it is possible, as far as one can tell by looking just at the placement record, that those additional acceptances were received by just one student. Yet, it seems, to me at least, that how widely distributed students' acceptances are for a given year makes a significant difference when it comes to evaluating these sorts of programs. And, just taking a quick peek, it looks as though at least Tufts and Brandeis provide just the same sort of info as UWM.

 

Even after having graduated from one of the programs listed and spoken with some students from most of the others, I still don't feel confident that I know enough to rank the programs in any helpful way.

 

I'm encouraging my department chair to clean up the placement record on our site. He wants to change it. It's just that no one is really designated to maintain our site. Anyway, I think Georgia State has a great model, provided that the program's students are allowed to opt-out of the placement page.

[ianfaircloud]

I think you are being a little presumptuous here. I did not vote for Tufts in my ranking, and I do have an idea about the programs.

 

 

I voted for Tufts, but I admit that Tufts is not "all roses and no thorns." I happen to know that there are reasons against Tufts (beyond the financial), and if someone wants a program of a particular kind, Tufts may not be that kind of program. I don't want to say more here, but as with every single MA program, there are going to be problems at Tufts.

[philstudent1991]

 

 

You might consider adding Western Michigan University?

I would but now I can't edit the poll. If anyone can tell me how, maybe I'm missing something, please let me know. It doesn't have the edit option that my posts usually have.

[wandajune]

I would but now I can't edit the poll. If anyone can tell me how, maybe I'm missing something, please let me know. It doesn't have the edit option that my posts usually have.

 

Click to edit the original post in the thread, then you'll have the option of editing the poll as well.

[philstudent1991]

That's the thing, it just says report, multiquote or quote

[wandajune]

That's the thing, it just says report, multiquote or quote

 

Hm. Maybe there's a time limit on editing posts.

[philstudent1991]

That's my best guess too. Oh well.

[alethicethic]

Why aren't the CSUs on this list? SFSU and Cal State LA? SFSU has phenomenal placement and terrific faculty.

[PerpetualApplicant No More]

Why aren't the CSUs on this list? SFSU and Cal State LA? SFSU has phenomenal placement and terrific faculty.

Valid question. I don't have complete info on SFSU's placement this year, but from what I know, it definitely beat several schools on the list.

Edited April 14, 2014 by perpetualapplicant

[philstudent1991]

Why aren't the CSUs on this list? SFSU and Cal State LA? SFSU has phenomenal placement and terrific faculty.

 

 

Valid question. I don't have complete info on SFSU's placement this year, but from what I know, it definitely beat several schools on the list.

Great ideas. Unfortunately I can't edit the poll. Maybe I'll make a survey monkey when I have the chance, or someone else is welcome to.