LAC department size versus selectivity: PhD productivity

interesteddad
Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:46:27 +0000

Using the WebCaspar database:

http://caspar.nsf.gov/

It is possible to be very precise in looking at specific colleges.

For example, the IPEDS Completions Survey provided the following number of Chemistry major graduates from four selected LACs from the 10 year period 1989 - 1998:

118 Amherst College
117 Reed College
70 Swarthmore College
238 Williams College

The NSF PhD database shows the following total Chemistry PhDs from these schools for the offset 10-year period 1994-2003:

14 Amherst College
40 Reed College
22 Swarthmore College
30 Williams College

Thus, the percentage of Chemistry majors going on to receive a PhD in Chemistry from each school:

12% Amherst College
34% Reed College
31% Swarthmore College
13% Williams College

I would note that Chemistry is a major that may not be that cut and dried because of the overlap with other sciences, especially biochemistry.