Ivy PhD production in various majors

College Search & Lists
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<p>Ivy PhD production per Bachelors degree by major:</p>

<p>reposted from the end of another thread…</p>

<p>The results of this next analysis were fascinating. From Baccalaureate Origins of Doctoral Recipients: Doctoral Degree Granting Institutions 1986-1995, I took the number of PhD recipients from Baccalaureate Origins and divided by the total number of bachelors degrees granted in that particular discipline in 2004. The number of bachelors degrees in each discipline came from the IPEDS COOL website. </p>

<p>The years don’t coincide (1986-1995 in the numerator versus 2004 in the denominator) but they should be proportional, I think, to the Bachelors degrees granted in the 1986-1995 timeframe. This gave me a sort of PhD per Bachelors ratio. </p>

<p>For (hypothetical) example, I divided 480 PhDs granted 1986-1995 in anthropology/sociology by 240 bachelors graduates in 2004 in anthropology/sociology to get a ratio of 2. The higher the ratio, the more PhDs per BS.</p>

<p>Following are the top 4 Ivies in each discipline in PhDs per Bachelors degree in several disciplines. The order in which the school names appear means nothing; it is simply the way I built my spreadsheet.</p>

<p>life sciences Cornell Harvard Yale Princeton
physics/astronomy Cornell Yale Princeton Penn
earth sciences Harvard Penn Yale
psychology Cornell Brown Yale Princeton
chemistry Cornell Brown Penn Yale
computer science Brown Harvard Penn Yale
mathematics Cornell Harvard Penn Yale Princeton
engineering Cornell Brown Penn Princeton
economics Brown Harvard Yale Princeton
political sci/international rel Cornell Harvard Yale Princeton
anthropology/sociology Brown Harvard Penn Yale
English Cornell Harvard Yale Princeton
foreign languages Cornell Dartmouth Harvard Yale
history Cornell Harvard Yale Princeton</p>

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<p>number of PhDs per bachelors graduate… </p>

<p>If you tally the number of listings among the top four:</p>

<p>Yale 13
Cornell 10
Harvard 10
Princeton 9
Penn 7
Brown 6
Dartmouth 1
Columbia 0</p>

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<p>why does this matter?</p>

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<p>bball87-
The Baccalaureate Origins study is often cited as an indicator of the quality of undergraduate preparation for post graduate work. The argument is that higher PhD production reflects favorably on the teaching/learning experience of undergraduates. The counter-argument is that it only counts PhDs, not professional degrees, so colleges that send a larger-than-average proportion to med school, law school, and business school are penalized.</p>

<p>It matters because it is one indicator (among many) of the quality of undergraduate education. It’s the reason why applicants post on CC; they want to know which schools are good.</p>