Report on the APA 2013 Graduate Guide: Degrees Awarded and Time to Complete PhD

Date

March 6, 2014

author

The American Philosophical Association (APA) puts out an annual Guide to Graduate Programs in Philosophy. The following statistics come completely from aggregating and compiling the data found in the 2013 guide.

Note: All data are self-reported by the departments in question and cannot be guaranteed accurate. Furthermore, this is not a random or necessarily representative sample of philosophy programs as it contains information from only those schools that completed the 2013 Graduate Guide survey.

Summary of Findings

CUNY has awarded the most degrees of any school since 2009, a total of 53. That is about 11 per year.
Nearly 1500 PhDs in philosophy have been awarded by these schools since 2009.
The average time to complete a PhD in philosophy is about 7 years.
Claremont Graduate University has the highest average completion at 10 years
SUNY at Binghamton, McMaster University, and Arizona State University have the lowest average completion at 5 years.

Degrees Awarded and Time to Complete PhD

This data spans the years 2009-2013.

Number of Degrees Awarded (Total and Average)

The most degrees awarded 2009 – 2013 by school are (1) CUNY Graduate School and University Center at 53, (2) University of Notre Dame at 46, and (3) University of Toronto at 40 degrees.
The highest average of degrees awarded 2009-2013 by school are (1) CUNY Graduate School and University Center at 10.6, (2) University of Notre Dame at 9.2, and (3) Stony Brook University at 8.5 degrees/year (Note: no data for Stony Brook University in 2013).
Total of 1499 degrees awarded, an average of 4.28 per school per year, from 2009-2013.

Here is each school’s numbers:

School	Total Degrees Awarded Over Period	Average of Degrees Awarded Per Year Over Period
Total/Average	1499	4.28
CUNY Graduate School and University Center	53	10.6
University of Notre Dame	46	9.2
University of Toronto	40	8
Boston College	37	7.4
University of Texas at Austin	36	7.2
University of Wisconsin-Madison	36	7.2
Stony Brook University	34	8.5
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	34	6.8
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	32	6.4
Loyola University Chicago	31	7.75
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	30	6
University of Arizona	29	5.8
University of Pittsburgh (Philosophy)	29	5.8
Cornell University	28	5.6
Purdue University-West Lafayette	28	5.6
Fordham University	27	6.75
Boston University	27	5.4
Southern Illinois University Carbondale	27	5.4
University of California-Los Angeles	27	5.4
University of South Florida-Main Campus	27	5.4
New York University	26	5.2
University of California, Berkeley	26	5.2
University of California-Riverside	26	5.2
Temple University	25	5
Vanderbilt University	25	5
Emory University	24	6
New School for Social Research	24	6
Stanford University	24	6
Catholic University of America	24	4.8
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	22	5.5
Princeton University	20	5
University of Massachusetts Amherst	20	4
University of Virginia-Main Campus	20	4
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	19	4.75
Duquesne University	19	3.8
Indiana University-Bloomington	19	3.8
University of California-Santa Barbara	19	3.8
SUNY at Binghamton	18	4.5
McMaster University	18	3.6
The Ohio State University-Main Campus	18	3.6
Washington University in St. Louis	18	3.6
Duke University	17	3.4
Syracuse University	17	3.4
University of Illinois at Chicago	17	3.4
University of California-Davis	16	3.2
University of Rochester	16	3.2
University of Hawaii at Manoa	14	3.5
William Marsh Rice University	14	3.5
Arizona State University	14	2.8
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus	14	2.8
University of Tennessee-Knoxville	14	2.8
University of Utah	14	2.8
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	14	2.8
Michigan State University	13	2.6
University of British Columbia (UBC)	13	2.6
DePaul University	12	4
Saint Louis University-Main Campus	12	3
University of Miami	12	2.4
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus	12	2.4
University of California-Santa Cruz	11	2.75
University of Dallas	11	2.75
University of Southern California	10	5
Johns Hopkins University	10	3.33
Indiana University (HPS)	10	2
Carnegie Mellon University	9	1.8
University of Alberta	9	1.8
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	9	1.8
University of Pittsburgh (HPS)	9	1.8
University of Waterloo	8	1.6
University of California-San Diego	7	2.33
University of Georgia	7	1.75
Texas A & M University	7	1.4
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	7	1.4
Claremont Graduate University	5	1
Dalhousie University	3	0.6

Here is the aggregation of schools over the 5 year period:

Year	Number of Degrees Awarded	Number of Schools Reporting	Average Number of Degrees Awarded
2009	289	73	3.95
2010	357	74	4.82
2011	356	74	4.81
2012	287	72	3.98
2013	210	57	3.68
Grand Total	1499	350	4.28

Graphically:

Time to Completion (Average):

The Average time to completion is 6.94 years.
The top 3 schools in terms of highest average time to completion of degree are (1) Claremont Graduate University at 10 years, (2) Syracuse University at 9.6 years, and (3) University of Pittsburgh (Philosophy) at 9.45 years.
The top 3 schools in terms of lowest average time to completion of degree are (1) SUNY at Binghamton at 5 years, (1) McMaster University at 5 years, and (1) Arizona State University at 5 years.

School	Average of Time To Complete Degree Over Period
Claremont Graduate University	10.00
Syracuse University	9.60
University of Pittsburgh (Philosophy)	9.45
Johns Hopkins University	9.00
University of Illinois at Chicago	8.80
DePaul University	8.63
University of Wisconsin-Madison	8.60
Indiana University-Bloomington	8.36
Catholic University of America	8.03
University of California, Berkeley	7.97
Fordham University	7.88
Vanderbilt University	7.86
Indiana University (HPS)	7.83
University of Utah	7.80
University of Notre Dame	7.76
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	7.70
University of California-Los Angeles	7.59
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus	7.50
University of Dallas	7.50
University of Georgia	7.50
Duke University	7.42
Duquesne University	7.40
University of Miami	7.40
University of Texas at Austin	7.38
William Marsh Rice University	7.25
University of California-Santa Barbara	7.21
University of Arizona	7.20
University of Pittsburgh (HPS)	7.20
University of Rochester	7.20
Washington University in St. Louis	7.20
Boston College	7.16
Stony Brook University	7.10
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	7.09
The Ohio State University-Main Campus	7.05
Boston University	7.00
University of Hawaii at Manoa	7.00
University of California-Davis	6.99
Average	6.94
Michigan State University	6.80
University of Southern California	6.71
Purdue University-West Lafayette	6.70
Loyola University Chicago	6.63
University of Tennessee-Knoxville	6.58
Dalhousie University	6.55
Emory University	6.50
New York University	6.50
University of California-San Diego	6.40
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	6.40
University of California-Riverside	6.30
Princeton University	6.29
University of Massachusetts Amherst	6.20
University of South Florida-Main Campus	6.19
Cornell University	6.18
University of Virginia-Main Campus	6.10
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	6.02
Temple University	6.00
Texas A & M University	6.00
University of California-Santa Cruz	6.00
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	6.00
Stanford University	5.94
Saint Louis University-Main Campus	5.83
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	5.70
Southern Illinois University Carbondale	5.70
Carnegie Mellon University	5.69
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	5.68
University of Oklahoma Norman Campus	5.24
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	5.20
Arizona State University	5.00
McMaster University	5.00
SUNY at Binghamton	5.00

Here is the aggregation of schools over the 5 year period:

Year	Average of Time To Complete
2009	6.827540984
2010	7.066060606
2011	6.936119403
2012	7.021967213
2013	6.812586207

Graphically:

Further Information

Visit our other reports on the APA 2013 Graduate Guide’s data

Visit our other philosophy placement reports based on each school’s placement data

Graduate Student Philosophy Placement Records

Terminal MA Placement Report

The “Prestige” Report

The Continental Philosophy Report

If you have any suggestions about how to make this report better, or would like to report updates to the APA Graduate Guide to include in this report, please send me an email. Also, contact the APA directly for more information about this data.

Thanks,

Andy Carson
Philosophy News

We’d like to thank Amy E. Ferrer, Executive Director, The American Philosophical Association, University of Delaware, for approving the use of this data, providing useful feedback, and for approving these reports for publication.

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