PhD Programs

A collection of 77 posts

2025

2025 Survey Results: International and Conservative Students

Conservative and international students face different challenges: one feels forced to self-censor while the other reports fewer job opportunities. No significant impact on employment is found for either but conservative respondents report higher rates of satisfaction in philosophy.

2025

2015-2025 Grads: prestige, career paths, and job satisfaction

Prestige boosts permanent academic job odds and prestigious placements. Job satisfaction is similar b/w academics and non-academics, but higher for permanent than temporary job holders. Gender/SES have little direct impact on outcomes, though top programs have more women and higher-SES grads.

2025

2025 Survey Results: Publications and Teaching in Academia (Part I - Professional Norms and Academic Outcomes)

In this first of a series of posts on professional norms and academic outcomes, we examine the dual pillars of the academic portfolio: how much publication and teaching experience is “enough” to secure a stable career? Is a modest record at graduation sufficient, or is there an implicit expectation that

2025

2025 Survey Results: financial satisfaction and labour status, comparison to 2023

In both the 2023 and 2025 surveys, we asked participants who list as current students to rate their satisfaction with their financial situation on a 5-point scale (very unsatisfied, unsatisfied, neutral, satisfied, very satisfied). This blog post explores the results around this question. Read a discussion of the 2023

2025

2026 Data Update on Placement, Program Ratings, Student Comments, and Keywords

Permanent academic placement for philosophy PhDs looks steady, while program and climate ratings are up.

2024 Featured

2024 Data Collection Results: a focus on recent graduates

Over the spring and summer we updated the database using placement pages and other public sources of data (h/t Ricardo Rodriguez), inviting program representatives to edit their dashboards at the end of the summer. This effort led to 406 new graduates in the covered period (2013–2023), over 2/

2023

The New Data Dashboard

Between February and August of this year the APDA project has been busy collecting and checking data on the employment status of recent graduates from nearly 150 philosophy PhD programs. Three people were especially key to this effort: Alisha Nesslage, now a graduate student at UC Irvine, Ricardo Rodriguez, a

2022

2022 Data Collection Results

Since January we have been collecting data on over 200 PhD programs. The sortable table published to the home page today includes ten years of data for around 140 programs, nearly 50 of which have so far been able to verify our data. Analysis of that data is below, but

PhD Programs

New Findings on Diversity, Program Ratings, and Job Placement

This past summer APDA sent a survey [https://academic-placement-data-and-analysis.ghost.io/new-survey/] to past graduates and current students in philosophy PhD programs. Some of the results have already been discussed in blog posts at Daily Nous [https://dailynous.com/2021/10/05/guide-to-graduate-

PhD Programs Featured

Best PhD Programs in Philosophy

What is the best PhD program in philosophy? In one way of thinking about it, this question doesn’t make much sense. Philosophy is many different things and philosophers can be many different types of people, so the best program will depend on the person in question and the type

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: Rice University, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, and University of Notre Dame

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about three final philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are Rice University [https://philosophy.rice.edu/], University of Hawai'i at Mānoa [https://hawaii.edu/phil/], and University of Notre Dame [https://philosophy.nd.edu/

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: University of Arkansas and Southern Illinois University

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are University of Arkansas [https://fulbright.uark.edu/departments/philosophy/] and Southern Illinois University [https://cola.siu.edu/philosophy/]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: Birkbeck, University of London and University of Rochester

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are Birkbeck, University of London [http://www.bbk.ac.uk/departments/philosophy/] and University of Rochester [https://www.sas.rochester.edu/phl/]. These programs were chosen randomly, using

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: McMaster University and University of Washington

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are McMaster University [https://philos.humanities.mcmaster.ca/] and University of Washington [https://phil.washington.edu/]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called Pickster. (Next week&

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: University of British Columbia, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, and University of Virginia

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about four* philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are University of British Columbia [https://philosophy.ubc.ca/], University of Missouri [https://philosophy.missouri.edu/], University of Nebraska [https://www.unl.edu/philosophy/], and University of Virginia

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: Florida State University and York University

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are Florida State University [https://philosophy.fsu.edu/] and York University [https://phil.laps.yorku.ca/]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called "Pickster [https:

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: The New School and MIT

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are The New School [https://www.newschool.edu/nssr/philosophy/] and Massachusetts Institute of Technology [https://philosophy.mit.edu//]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: Rutgers University and University of California, Riverside

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are Rutgers University [https://philosophy.rutgers.edu/] and University of California, Riverside [https://philosophy.ucr.edu/]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called "Pickster [https:

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: University of Texas at Austin and Indiana University, HPS

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are University of Texas at Austin [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/philosophy/] and Indiana University, Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine [https://hpsc.indiana.edu/]. These

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: University of Oklahoma and Tilburg University

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are University of Oklahoma [http://www.ou.edu/cas/philosophy] and Tilburg University [https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/research/institutes-and-research-groups/tilps] . These programs were chosen randomly,

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: University of Manchester and University of California, Berkeley

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are University of Manchester [https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/philosophy/] and University of California, Berkeley [https://philosophy.berkeley.edu/graduate/placement]. These programs were chosen randomly, using

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: Yale University and University of Memphis

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are Yale University [https://philosophy.yale.edu/] and University of Memphis [https://www.memphis.edu/philosophy/]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called "Pickster [https:

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: Johns Hopkins University and University of Minnesota Twin Cities

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are Johns Hopkins University [https://philosophy.jhu.edu/] and University of Minnesota Twin Cities [https://cla.umn.edu/philosophy]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: Western University and University of Oxford

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are Western University [https://www.uwo.ca/philosophy/] and University of Oxford [https://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called "

PhD Programs

Philosophy PhD Programs: University of Iowa and Wayne State University

In this blog post I provide some detailed, up-to-date information about two philosophy PhD programs. This week's picks are University of Iowa [https://clas.uiowa.edu/philosophy/] and Wayne State University [https://clas.wayne.edu/philosophy]. These programs were chosen randomly, using an app called "