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Since its beginning in 1965, the U.W. Astronomy Department has developed a national reputation for producing successful, productive graduate students who go on to successful careers in astronomy and astrophysics. There are two ways of measuring the quality of a graduate program. The first is to gauge how graduate students themselves rate their program. The second is to look at how astronomers with UW PhDs fare in the job market. Our program is among the best by both standards. How do graduate students rate the program? The 2001 National Doctoral Program Survey ranked our department number 1 in the nation! How have our graduates fared in the job market? The American Astronomical Society conducted a survey of graduate programs and outcomes in March 1998. Our statistics appear here. We surveyed the status of our PhD graduates in 1995. 61 of our PhDs graduated 5 or more years ago. We asked them where they were 5 years after graduating. At that stage in their careers, 52 were in universities and 6 were at large observatories. The statistical breakdown was:
48 graduates received their PhDs more than 10 years ago. At the ten-year milepost, 41 were in university positions and 5 were working in observatories. Fully 87% (seven of eight!) of these people had attained long-term status:
This record is outstanding. It shows that our commitment to graduate education and career preparation has been consistently successful. |
