Hoggirl Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I saw this over on CC and thought I would share since there is always an ongoing debate about whether or not the prestige of an undergraduate instituiton makes a difference. The data are only for top programs - not gaining admission to "a" program. I apologize as I didn't study the methodology very well - it's somehow connected to LinkedIn, so I can't assess the validity of the assertions. I was taking a quick break from packing for our move when I saw it. I should be packing now! https://www.collegetransitions.com/blog/category/infographics/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Thank you. I can only take college confidential in a heavily curated form ;) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Interesting. I hadn't even heard of some of those schools. Now if only I could remember to find this in, uh, 7+ years (oldest was just talking about getting a degree in math, maybe a PhD... of course, what with him being in 4th grade, he's got plenty of time to change his mind a million times). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3andme Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Thank you! That's a very interesting analysis - very heavy on the small LACs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 Thank you! That's a very interesting analysis - very heavy on the small LACs. That could be read either positively, negatively (students cannot get good jobs straight out of undergrad so they have to spin the roulette wheel and hope they'll land an academic job post-PhD.), or in between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 I've seen that data before, and I think it's a little bit misleading, in the sense that the rankings are based on the percentage of graduates (per capita) who go on to get PhDs. So that is obviously going to favor small schools that attract highly motivated, high stats students. Most of these small, highly ranked LACs do not have much in the way of sports programs or Greek life or much of a party culture, and they are often not that generous with merit aid (I know that's definitely true for Reed, which tops the rankings list). So the kids that end up there tend to be very academically-oriented and reasonably well-to-do — a self-selected group of the students who are most likely to pursue grad school. Also, this is actually something I looked into in terms of linguistics — I looked at the staff profiles for linguistics departments in lots of different universities, looking for CVs that listed both undergrad and grad schools. There were actually far more large uni's listed for undergrad degrees, compared to small LACs. So while the top LACs may have a higher percentage of their undergrads go on to grad school, those students do not make up the majority of grad students.I think for students who know they ultimately want to pursue a PhD, the small highly ranked LACs are a great choice — assuming the student can get in and can afford it. But I also don't think that a student who ends up at a larger university is necessarily handicapped in terms of grad school admissions. The biggest factor is going to be finding mentors and establishing research interests; that may be easier to accomplish as a big fish in a small pond, but students can do it in big ponds, too. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) Thank you! That's a very interesting analysis - very heavy on the small LACs. I attended a small LAC, though not a prestigious one. When I graduated, the statistic was something like 68% of students pursued graduate school work at some point. I do think it's largely because of the types of degrees offered. Another component is the type of student there. Someone else mentioned that students at small LACs are self-selective because of the academic environment (though, notwithstanding the lack of Greek life, there were still plenty of parties). Even though I got a good job right out of school, I went back to law school five years later. We also had a large group that attended med school. Edited March 26, 2017 by Hoggirl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) I went to Claremont McKenna because, per capita, at the time, we were the top law school feeder school in the nation. 25% of our grads. I know that our reputation in that regard certainly helped my applications. We seem to be #3 now, but the number one producer of CEOs per capita. And we certainly had no shortage of job offers coming out of undergrad. Job placement was a real strength, and, as opposed to my large uni counterparts, was not dependent on major. I majored in Russian and PPE (poltics, philosophy, and economics) and had job offers from the major consulting and ibanking firms. Many of these firms only wanted certain majors at UCLA, but would take any major at CMC. Eta: we also had a notorious party culture on campus, mostly because the school didn't much care about IDing people at events. Edited March 26, 2017 by SeaConquest 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 Here's another link to additional (older) data specific to science & engineering PhDs from 2002-2011. Also shared on CC. Table 4 seems to be the one of interest. I know nothing about PhD programs. We're more "vo-tech" in our house with accounting and law. Ha ha! https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13323/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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