Philosophical Gourmet Report 2009
Brian Leiter's Ranking of Graduate Programs in Philosophy in the English-Speaking World
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Overall Rankings
 

This year's overall rankings are based on reputational surveys completed by 260 philosophers throughout the English-speaking world and Continental Europe; almost 300 philosophers participated in either the overall or specialty rankings, often both. In the overall rankings, evaluators were asked to evaluate faculty lists that did not include the university's name, along the following dimension:

Please give your opinion of the attractiveness of the faculty for a prospective student, taking in to account (and weighted as you deem appropriate) the quality of philosophical work and talent on the faculty, the range of areas the faculty covers, and the availability of the faculty over the next few years.

After scoring faculties, evaluators then viewed a list of their evaluations organized by score, and had an opportunity to revise their scorings.

Because evaluators do not have reliable access to information about the quality of graduate teaching and mentoring for most departments, this was not a component of the evaluation. As always, students are advised to talk to current students before enrolling at any program.

Evaluators scored departments on the following scale: 5-Distinguished; 4-Strong; 3-Good; 2-Adequate; 1-Marginal; 0-Inadequate for a PhD program. .5 fractions were permitted. The rank of each department is based on the “overall” mean. In the next three columns the department’s rank in the 2006, 2004, and 2002 Reports are given.

All programs with a mean score of 2.2 or higher are ranked, since based on this and past year results, we have reason to think that no program not included in the survey would have ranked ahead of these programs. Other programs evaluated this year are listed unranked afterwards; there may well have been programs not surveyed this year that would have fared as well.

Note: evaluators were not permitted to evaluate either their own department or the department from which they received their highest degree (PhD, DPhil, sometimes the BPhil).

Ranking Of Faculties In The United States

Rank School Mean Median Rank in 2006 Rank in 2004 Rank in 2002
1 New York University 4.9 5.0 1 1 1
2 Rutgers University , New Brunswick 4.6 5.0 2 2 1
3 Princeton University 4.3 4.5 3 3 1
4 University of Pittsburgh 4.2 4.0 5 4 5
5 University of Michigan , Ann Arbor 4.1 4.0 3 4 4
6 Harvard University 4.0 4.0 7 9 8
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.0 4.0 7 6 8
8 Yale University 3.9 4.0 16 24 16
9 Stanford University 3.8 4.0 6 6 6
  University of California , Berkeley 3.8 3.5 12 12 13
  University of California , Los Angeles 3.8 4.0 7 9 8
  University of North Carolina , Chapel Hill 3.8 4.0 10 12 12
13 Columbia University 3.7 4.0 9 6 7
  University of Arizona 3.7 3.5 13 16 8
15 City University of New York Graduate Center 3.6 3.5 23 17 25
  University of Notre Dame 3.6 3.5 13 12 14
17 Brown University 3.5 3.5 16 17 16
  Cornell University 3.5 3.5 16 12 16
  University of Southern California 3.5 3.5 16 24 46
20 University of Texas , Austin 3.4 3.5 13 11 14
21 University of California , San Diego 3.3 3.5 20 17 20
  University of Chicago 3.3 3.5 20 17 16
23 Indiana University , Bloomington 3.2 3.0 27 29 25
  University of California , Irvine 3.2 3.0 20 17 20
  University of Wisconsin , Madison 3.2 3.0 24 22 22
26 Duke University 3.0 3.0 27 29 28
  Ohio State University 3.0 3.0 26 22 22
  University of Colorado , Boulder 3.0 3.0 32 36 28
  University of Massachusetts , Amherst 3.0 3.0 24 28 30
30 University of California , Riverside 2.9 3.0 31 32 32
  University of Maryland , College Park 2.9 3.0 27 24 30
  University of Pennsylvania 2.9 3.0 27 31 25
  Washington University , St. Louis 2.9 3.0 39 36 not in top 50
34 Syracuse University 2.8 3.0 32 32 32
  University of Miami 2.8 3.0 32 44 46
36 Carnegie-Mellon University 2.6 2.5 39 36 36
  Georgetown University 2.6 2.5 39 44 42
  University of California , Davis 2.6 2.5 35 24 24
  University of Illinois , Chicago 2.6 2.5 35 34 36
  University of Virginia 2.6 2.5 39 34 42
41 Northwestern University 2.5 2.5 53 51 46
  University of California , Santa Barbara 2.5 2.5 39 44 40
43 Florida State University 2.4 2.5 44 44 n/a
  Johns Hopkins University 2.4 2.5 35 44 36
  University of Connecticut , Storrs 2.4 2.5 48 44 40
  University of Washington , Seattle 2.4 2.5 35 36 32
47 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul 2.3 2.5 44 36 32
48 Boston University 2.2 2.0 50 41 42
  Rice University 2.2 2.0 50 51 39
  University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign 2.2 2.0 50 53 42
  University of Missouri , Columbia 2.2 2.0 53 not in top 50 n/a
  University of Rochester 2.2 2.5 44 44 46
  University of Utah 2.2 2.0 not in top 50 n/a n/a
  Other faculties evaluated (not ranked, since there may have been schools not evaluated that might have performed comparably)          
  Arizona State University 2.0 2.0      
  Purdue University 2.0 2.0      
  St. Louis University 2.0 2.0      
  University at Buffalo, State University of New York 1.9 2.0      
  University of California, Santa Cruz 1.3 1.5      
  University of Cincinnati 1.8 2.0      
  University of Kansas 1.4 1.5      
  University of Nebraska, Lincoln 2.1 2.0      
  University of Oklahoma, Norman 2.0 2.0      
  University of South Carolina 1.8 2.0      
  University of South Florida 1.8 2.0      

Ranking Of Faculties In The United Kingdom

Rank School Mean Median 2006 Rank 2004 Rank 2002 Rank
1 Oxford University 4.7 5.0 1 1 1
2 University of St. Andrews/University of Stirling Joint Program 3.6 3.5 2 3 3
3 Cambridge University 3.4 3.5 3 2 2
4 University College London 3.2 3.5 4 4 7
5 King's College, London 3.1 3.0 6 5 4
6 Birkbeck College , University of London 3.0 3.0 4 6 4
7 University of Sheffield 2.9 3.0 6 7 10
8 London School of Economics 2.8 3.0 8 7 7
9 University of Nottingham 2.7 2.5 9 13 15
  University of Reading 2.7 2.5 9 9 4
  University of Warwick 2.7 2.5 14 10 n/a
12 University of Bristol 2.6 2.5 9 14 Not in top 15
  University of Edinburgh 2.6 2.75 9 11 9
  University of Leeds 2.6 2.5 9 11 11
15 University of York 2.2 2.0 15 Not in top 15 Not in top 15
  Other Faculties Evaluated (not ranked)          
  University of Birmingham 1.9 2.0      
  University of Durham 2.0 2.0      
  University of Exeter 1.8 2.0      
  University of Glasgow 1.9 2.0      
  University of Manchester 1.7 2.0      

Ranking Of Faculties In Canada

Rank School Mean Median 2006 Rank 2004 Rank 2002 Rank
1 University of Toronto 3.6 3.5 1 1 1
2 University of Western Ontario 2.7 3.0 2 2 2
3 McGill University 2.5 2.5 3 4 3
4 University of British Columbia 2.4 2.5 4 2 3
  Other Faculties Evaluated (not ranked)          
  Queen's University 2.0 2.0      
  Simon Fraser University 1.7 1.75      
  University of Alberta 2.1 2.0      
  University of Calgary 1.9 2.0      
  York University , Toronto 1.8 2.0      

Rankings Of Faculties In Australasia

Rank School Mean Median 2006 Rank 2004 Rank 2002 Rank
1 Australian National University 3.7 4.0 1 1 1
2 University of Sydney 3.0 3.0 2 3 5
3 Monash University 2.5 2.5 4 5 3
4 University of Auckland 2.3 2.5 4 4 3
  Other Faculties Evaluated (not ranked)          
  University of Melbourne 1.8 2.0      
  University of Otago 1.9 2.0      

Ranking Of Top 50 Faculties In The English-Speaking World

Note that departments in the U.S. tend to be larger than elsewhere, which tends to confer an advantage (perhaps warranted) on such faculties for evaluation purposes.

Rank School Region Mean Median
1 New York University U.S.A. 4.9 5.0
2 Oxford University U.K. 4.7 5.0
3 Rutgers University , New Brunswick U.S.A. 4.6 5.0
4 Princeton University U.S.A. 4.3 4.5
5 University of Pittsburgh U.S.A. 4.2 4.0
6 University of Michigan , Ann Arbor U.S.A. 4.1 4.0
7 Harvard University U.S.A. 4.0 4.0
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology U.S.A. 4.0 4.0
9 Yale University U.S.A. 3.9 4.0
10 Stanford University U.S.A. 3.8 4.0
  University of California, Berkeley U.S.A. 3.8 3.5
  University of California, Los Angeles U.S.A. 3.8 4.0
  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill U.S.A. 3.8 4.0
14 Australian National University Australasia 3.7 4.0
  Columbia University U.S.A. 3.7 4.0
  University of Arizona U.S.A. 3.7 3.5
17 City University of New York Graduate Center U.S.A. 3.6 3.5
  University of Notre Dame U.S.A. 3.6 3.5
  University of St. Andrews/University of Stirling Joint Program U.K. 3.6 3.5
  University of Toronto Canada 3.6 3.5
21 Brown University U.S.A. 3.5 3.5
  Cornell University U.S.A. 3.5 3.5
  University of Southern California U.S.A. 3.5 3.5
24 Cambridge University U.K. 3.4 3.5
  University of Texas , Austin U.S.A. 3.4 3.5
26 University of California , San Diego U.SA. 3.3 3.5
  University of Chicago U.S.A. 3.3 3.5
28 Indiana University , Bloomington U.S.A. 3.2 3.0
  University College London U.K. 3.2 3.5
  University of California, Irvine U.S.A. 3.2 3.0
  University of Wisconsin , Madison U.S.A. 3.2 3.0
32 King's College, London U.K. 3.1 3.0
33 Birkbeck College, University of London U.K. 3.0 3.0
  Duke University U.S.A. 3.0 3.0
  Ohio State University U.S.A. 3.0 3.0
  University of Colorado, Boulder U.S.A. 3.0 3.0
  University of Massachusetts, Amherst U.S.A. 3.0 3.0
  University of Sydney Australasia 3.0 3.0
39 University of California, Riverside U.S.A. 2.9 3.0
  University of Maryland , College Park U.S.A. 2.9 3.0
  University of Pennsylvania U.S.A. 2.9 3.0
  University of Sheffield U.K. 2.9 3.0
  Washington University, St. Louis U.S.A. 2.9 3.0
44 London School of Economics U.K. 2.8 3.0
  Syracuse University U.S.A. 2.8 3.0
  University of Miami U.S.A. 2.8 3.0
47 University of Nottingham U.K. 2.7 2.5
  University of Reading U.K. 2.7 2.5
  University of Warwick U.K. 2.7 2.5
  University of Western Ontario Canada 2.7 2.5

Unranked PhD Programs outside the top ranks in the US, UK, Canada, and Australasia

There are, by almost everyone’s admission, too many PhD programs, perhaps especially  in the United States; students should think very carefully before enrolling in the programs that are not well-ranked overall, though some have, to be sure, particular niches of excellence, that are reflected in the specialty rankings later in this Report.  For those specialty niches, programs not well-ranked overall may be a good choice.  Be sure, in any event, to get a complete report on job placement from these programs before enrolling:  some have better records than other.

 
 

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