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Report on the APA 2013 Graduate Guide: Degrees Awarded and Time to Complete PhD

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APA LogoThe American Philosophical Association (APA) puts out an annual Guide to Graduate Programs in Philosophy. The following statistics come completely from aggregating and compiling the data found in the 2013 guide.

Note: All data are self-reported by the departments in question and cannot be guaranteed accurate. Furthermore, this is not a random or necessarily representative sample of philosophy programs as it contains information from only those schools that completed the 2013 Graduate Guide survey.

Summary of Findings

  • CUNY has awarded the most degrees of any school since 2009, a total of 53. That is about 11 per year.
  • Nearly 1500 PhDs in philosophy have been awarded by these schools since 2009.
  • The average time to complete a PhD in philosophy is about 7 years.
  • Claremont Graduate University has the highest average completion at 10 years
  • SUNY at Binghamton, McMaster University, and Arizona State University have the lowest average completion at 5 years.

Degrees Awarded and Time to Complete PhD

This data spans the years 2009-2013.

Number of Degrees Awarded (Total and Average)

  • The most degrees awarded 2009 – 2013 by school are (1) CUNY Graduate School and University Center at 53, (2) University of Notre Dame at 46, and (3) University of Toronto at 40 degrees.
  • The highest average of degrees awarded 2009-2013 by school are (1) CUNY Graduate School and University Center at 10.6, (2) University of Notre Dame at 9.2, and (3) Stony Brook University at 8.5 degrees/year (Note: no data for Stony Brook University in 2013).
  • Total of 1499 degrees awarded, an average of 4.28 per school per year, from 2009-2013.

Here is each school’s numbers:

School Total Degrees Awarded Over Period Average of Degrees Awarded Per Year Over Period
Total/Average 1499 4.28
CUNY Graduate School and University Center 53 10.6
University of Notre Dame 46 9.2
University of Toronto 40 8
Boston College 37 7.4
University of Texas at Austin 36 7.2
University of Wisconsin-Madison 36 7.2
Stony Brook University 34 8.5
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 34 6.8
Rutgers University-New Brunswick 32 6.4
Loyola University Chicago 31 7.75
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 30 6
University of Arizona 29 5.8
University of Pittsburgh (Philosophy) 29 5.8
Cornell University 28 5.6
Purdue University-West Lafayette 28 5.6
Fordham University 27 6.75
Boston University 27 5.4
Southern Illinois University Carbondale 27 5.4
University of California-Los Angeles 27 5.4
University of South Florida-Main Campus 27 5.4
New York University 26 5.2
University of California, Berkeley 26 5.2
University of California-Riverside 26 5.2
Temple University 25 5
Vanderbilt University 25 5
Emory University 24 6
New School for Social Research 24 6
Stanford University 24 6
Catholic University of America 24 4.8
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus 22 5.5
Princeton University 20 5
University of Massachusetts Amherst 20 4
University of Virginia-Main Campus 20 4
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 19 4.75
Duquesne University 19 3.8
Indiana University-Bloomington 19 3.8
University of California-Santa Barbara 19 3.8
SUNY at Binghamton 18 4.5
McMaster University 18 3.6
The Ohio State University-Main Campus 18 3.6
Washington University in St. Louis 18 3.6
Duke University 17 3.4
Syracuse University 17 3.4
University of Illinois at Chicago 17 3.4
University of California-Davis 16 3.2
University of Rochester 16 3.2
University of Hawaii at Manoa 14 3.5
William Marsh Rice University 14 3.5
Arizona State University 14 2.8
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus 14 2.8
University of Tennessee-Knoxville 14 2.8
University of Utah 14 2.8
University of Washington-Seattle Campus 14 2.8
Michigan State University 13 2.6
University of British Columbia (UBC) 13 2.6
DePaul University 12 4
Saint Louis University-Main Campus 12 3
University of Miami 12 2.4
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus 12 2.4
University of California-Santa Cruz 11 2.75
University of Dallas 11 2.75
University of Southern California 10 5
Johns Hopkins University 10 3.33
Indiana University (HPS) 10 2
Carnegie Mellon University 9 1.8
University of Alberta 9 1.8
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 9 1.8
University of Pittsburgh (HPS) 9 1.8
University of Waterloo 8 1.6
University of California-San Diego 7 2.33
University of Georgia 7 1.75
Texas A & M University 7 1.4
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus 7 1.4
Claremont Graduate University 5 1
Dalhousie University 3 0.6

Here is the aggregation of schools over the 5 year period:

Year Number of Degrees Awarded Number of Schools Reporting Average Number of Degrees Awarded
2009 289 73 3.95
2010 357 74 4.82
2011 356 74 4.81
2012 287 72 3.98
2013 210 57 3.68
Grand Total 1499 350 4.28

Graphically:

image image

Time to Completion (Average):

  • The Average time to completion is 6.94 years.
  • The top 3 schools in terms of highest average time to completion of degree are (1) Claremont Graduate University at 10 years, (2) Syracuse University at 9.6 years, and (3) University of Pittsburgh (Philosophy) at 9.45 years.
  • The top 3 schools in terms of lowest average time to completion of degree are (1) SUNY at Binghamton at 5 years, (1) McMaster University at 5 years, and (1) Arizona State University at 5 years.
School Average of Time To Complete Degree Over Period
Claremont Graduate University 10.00
Syracuse University 9.60
University of Pittsburgh (Philosophy) 9.45
Johns Hopkins University 9.00
University of Illinois at Chicago 8.80
DePaul University 8.63
University of Wisconsin-Madison 8.60
Indiana University-Bloomington 8.36
Catholic University of America 8.03
University of California, Berkeley 7.97
Fordham University 7.88
Vanderbilt University 7.86
Indiana University (HPS) 7.83
University of Utah 7.80
University of Notre Dame 7.76
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 7.70
University of California-Los Angeles 7.59
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus 7.50
University of Dallas 7.50
University of Georgia 7.50
Duke University 7.42
Duquesne University 7.40
University of Miami 7.40
University of Texas at Austin 7.38
William Marsh Rice University 7.25
University of California-Santa Barbara 7.21
University of Arizona 7.20
University of Pittsburgh (HPS) 7.20
University of Rochester 7.20
Washington University in St. Louis 7.20
Boston College 7.16
Stony Brook University 7.10
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus 7.09
The Ohio State University-Main Campus 7.05
Boston University 7.00
University of Hawaii at Manoa 7.00
University of California-Davis 6.99
Average 6.94
Michigan State University 6.80
University of Southern California 6.71
Purdue University-West Lafayette 6.70
Loyola University Chicago 6.63
University of Tennessee-Knoxville 6.58
Dalhousie University 6.55
Emory University 6.50
New York University 6.50
University of California-San Diego 6.40
University of Nebraska-Lincoln 6.40
University of California-Riverside 6.30
Princeton University 6.29
University of Massachusetts Amherst 6.20
University of South Florida-Main Campus 6.19
Cornell University 6.18
University of Virginia-Main Campus 6.10
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 6.02
Temple University 6.00
Texas A & M University 6.00
University of California-Santa Cruz 6.00
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus 6.00
Stanford University 5.94
Saint Louis University-Main Campus 5.83
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.70
Southern Illinois University Carbondale 5.70
Carnegie Mellon University 5.69
University of Washington-Seattle Campus 5.68
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus 5.24
Rutgers University-New Brunswick 5.20
Arizona State University 5.00
McMaster University 5.00
SUNY at Binghamton 5.00

Here is the aggregation of schools over the 5 year period:

Year Average of Time To Complete
2009 6.827540984
2010 7.066060606
2011 6.936119403
2012 7.021967213
2013 6.812586207

Graphically:

image

Further Information

Visit our other reports on the APA 2013 Graduate Guide’s data

Visit our other philosophy placement reports based on each school’s placement data

pr_phd4_thumb Graduate Student Philosophy Placement Records

pr_terminalma_thumb2_thumb

Terminal MA Placement Report

pr_prestige_thumb2_thumb

The “Prestige” Report

pr_contential[5] The Continental Philosophy Report

If you have any suggestions about how to make this report better, or would like to report updates to the APA Graduate Guide to include in this report, please send me an email. Also, contact the APA directly for more information about this data.

Thanks,

Andy Carson
pn_logo16x16_thumb1Philosophy News

We’d like to thank Amy E. Ferrer, Executive Director, The American Philosophical Association, University of Delaware, for approving the use of this data, providing useful feedback, and for approving these reports for publication.

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