The initial job placement of our graduates
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Our Ph.D. graduates have been quite successful in obtaining a suitable job placement upon completion of their degree. Here is a web page listing the location of the first job of each of our Ph.D. graduates. The vast majority (about 90% in the period from 2000-2009) of our graduates have sought, and found, an initial position in academia, either at universities, research institutions or four year colleges. Others opted for employment in industry or government.
The recent NRC study of graduate programs reports that only about 25% of our students find academic employment after receiving their degree---for the period 2001-2005 according to NRC. This figure quite significantly underestimates the true percentage, and this (together with data that gives a misleading picture of our completion rate ) is in large part responsible for our program receiving a relatively low ranking with regard to student outcomes in the NRC study.
It is difficult to reconcile the reported NRC data with our initial job placement list . The best we have been able to determine is this: The data comes from a source called the Survey of Earned Doctorates This project compiles surveys provided by graduate programs throughout the country. Each graduate is given a survey form to complete and this form includes information about their employment plans.
At Rutgers, students are asked to complete this survey when they file for a degree. This filing is due in mid-March, well before many students have determined their plans for the coming year. So it seems that many students are unable to provide plans at the time they complete the survey, and the responses are not subsequently revised once the student has a position.
Finally,
it should be mentioned that the NRC study does not
address the separate (but important)
question of the number of graduates
who have obtained tenure at an academic
institution. Data on this is much harder to come by, and we do not
have any systematic information for this about our students.
Here is an overall analysis of the data concerning our program from the recent NRC study.