January 17, 2001
Section: Life
Page: 6D
Column: A better life: Health, education & science
Ph.D.s not always what the doctor ordered
More than 40,000 students earn doctorate degrees
each year from American universities, widely regarded
as the world's best in graduate education. But a
new report says the training doctoral students recieve
is not what they want, nor does it prepare them for
the jobs they take. Although more than half of all
doctoral students will become faculty, and most of
those will not find jobs at research universities, doctoral
programs continue to train students to be research
faculty, says University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher
Chris Golde, who directed the survey of 4,114 doctoral
students at 27 universities. Golde says that doctoral education
"unnecessarily mysterious," with up to two-thirds of students
unclear about how their coursework applies, how much
time they will sepnd with their advisor, how their graduate
studies and dissertation will be funded, and what the criteria
are that will determine whether they graduate.
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