@mathandcs …so I appreciate your comments. I certainly don’t agree with all of them (or most of them). Many people claim that liberal arts schools are superior than major public or private large research based schools on PhD production. I wanted to hear good counter arguments. You provided at least one…
I actually think this is a very good counter argument to liberal arts colleges claims of PhD production. Do I know professors at top 50 research universities with a LAC background. Yes…of course…I’m also looking for it. Do I have classmates that are professors at top 50 research universities. Again, yes. The problem is that I know classmates that have spent most of their 30’s as low paid adjuncts. It’s not fair to lump these two career outcomes together and say “high PhD production”.
A major research university will clearly do a better job with job placement than a LAC. Perhaps the perpetual adjunct should have tried to pursue a different career path, and a large research university could have made this possible. I do not know of studies of LAC undergrads career paths once they get a PhD. Maybe the perpetual adjunct is an aberration that is just as likely to occur to a graduate of a large research university.