College vs Grad School

dietcokewithlime
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:18:29 +0000

I’m having a hard time finding this data by program for the schools posters in this thread are most fixated on. I did find [this for Berkeley](http://tara54.berkeley.edu/articles.php?issue=8&article=phds), though: “At Berkeley, the Graduate Division keeps track of each student in a database known as the ‘Monster’ file, which goes back to the 1960s. Berkeley’s average RTDs [registered time to degree] are shorter than the national averages, but still nowhere near five years. In 2004, the average RTD in life sciences was 6.1 ± 2.3 years; in physical sciences it was 5.7 ± 2.0 years; and in engineering it was 5.8 ± 1.8 years.” Hmm.

The University of Minnesota is forthcoming with data about its PhD programs. including time to complete by program. For data on any program, go to [The Graduate School : Select Program](http://www.grad.umn.edu/programs/select_program.html?l=t) , then select “Program Statistics”, then “Graduate Student Progress”, and then the top link to “doctoral completion”. (Yes, the U of MN isn’t in Cambridge, so maybe you should stop reading if you’ve got a boner for Harvard and can’t imagine Hahvahd students taking this long.)

Doesn’t look to me like many students are finishing these programs in < 5 years: ~10% of students in a STEM field complete the PhD in 4 years or less, ~20% in arts/languages, ~5% in social sciences. I don’t believe that people enroll in these PhD programs intending to take the better part of a decade to complete them. If your goal is to make lots of money by becoming an associate at a consulting firm or the like, it doesn’t seem like a PhD in anthro (or whatever) is anywhere near a sure or expedient route there. How can you know as an entering PhD student that you won’t face bureaucratic/life issues that could keep you from finishing your degree quickly?