Questions to Ask About SFSU's Published PhD Program Admissions Results

[happyphilapplicant]

If you are a prospective student considering SFSU for your MA in Philosophy, I would demand that the philosophy department make clear how many of their published PhD program admissions results are the product of a single student's single application cycle.  I would demand that the department make clear how many of their published PhD program admissions results were actually accepted by students.  You want to know how many students they are actually sending to PhD programs, and good PhD programs, not merely the fact that they had a single exceptional student who got into a bunch of great schools, none but one of which she is actually attending right now.  

 

I would think twice about attending any school who engaged in such a practice.  

 

 

[Duns Eith]

I can see the huge benefit to what you're talking about. Is this something we can actually "demand" though? Should we expect schools to have sorted out that data and made it available for public use? Definitely an ideal situation for a school to be in, but I suppose that many schools aren't there yet -- even reputable ones. So... is this a fair "demand"?

[happyphilapplicant]

I think it is fair to demand that an MA program not exploit a single student's stellar admissions record over a single application cycle to mislead prospective students, especially when this is against the student's will.  

 

What I am suggesting is that this isn't a matter of an MA program not having enough information to differentiate their listing of admissions results.  They have the information; they are just choosing to use it in an ethically suspect way.  

 

For a discussion of alternate, and more transparent, formats for publishing placement records (that also respect the privacy of the students), see here:

 

http://dailynous.com/2015/07/30/listing-ma-program-placements/

[philosophe]

FYI Tufts does this too. Unclear how many students place at which school. 

[happyphilapplicant]

I'm not sure what you are looking at, or how recently this was done, but Tufts clearly distinguishes between those schools where their students actually enrolled and other schools to which their students were accepted, and they also do this by application cycle.  See here:

 

http://as.tufts.edu/philosophy/graduate/placement

[thomasphilosophy]

Yes, Tufts distinguishes between where students were accepted and where they enrolled, but overall the placement record is not trustworthy because they include undergraduates. Anyone who is thinking of applying there should keep this in mind. 

[happyphilapplicant]

Good to know.  If it's true that they are including undergrads in their MA Program placement record, that is problematic.  They need to make that clear to prospective MA program students.  

[thomasphilosophy]

Agreed. If you want confirmation that they include undergraduates, I encourage you to email the director of graduate studies.