Placement of Graduates
The departments assist graduates in obtaining positions by: helping them prepare a curriculum vita; making public a list of open positions; coaching job candidates on application procedures; and reproducing and mailing letters of recommendation. The Placement Committee Chair also coaches job applicants on interview procedures. In 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 there were about 600 positions for Ph.D.s advertised in the United States. We anticipate that the number of openings will remain at this level up to 2005 because of the anticipated retirement of many current faculty at US universities. Each year, about 16 students declare themselves candidates for positions. Six to ten obtain university teaching positions, two to four obtain postdoctoral fellowships or research positions, and the remainder either withdraw from the market for that year or do not obtain positions. The caliber of the position is correlated with the candidate's ability and his or her research and teaching experiences while at Wisconsin. Most years we place more students in positions at major universities than any other department of sociology.