Bookish Spazz has an interesting question regarding choosing college majors that I’d like to address. She has an interest in Philosophy, but asks

Before I give my own advice, I’m going to share an interesting statistical quirk that philosophy departments love flaunting.

There is a long statistical study that can be accessed here. In the study, the author analyzes the scores of college graduates in standardized tests, notably the LSAT, GMAT, and GRE tests. There is a focus on differentiating the scores according to what major the undergraduate chose. The scores are given by percentages below or above the average. You can click on the figure below for the big chart.

A more succinct review can be found in the article by Hoekema Why Major in Philosophy (you’ll need a JSTOR access). Hoekema makes several conclusions from the 12 year study (notice the first is very counterintuitive):

1. With the exception of engineering majors, undergraduates who major in professional and occupational fields, consistently underperform those who major in traditional arts and science fields on these examinations.

2. Students with undergraduate majors in [natural] science, mathematics, and engineering perform better than all others on these examinations.

3. Students who major in a field characterized by formal thought, structural relationships, abstract models, symbolic languages, and deductive reasoning consistently outperform others on these examinations.

Now this is going to both excite and anger a lot people.

Standardized tests have (understandably) a rather sorted past and present. Whether you’re talking about the SATs, the GREs, the MCATs, the LSATs, or even some good old fashion IQ testing, the bottom line is that they are only one measure of a person’s aptitude.

You can justifiably argue that things like personality, charisma, social, and emotional intelligence means a great deal more than one’s ability to ace a standardized test (and I would agree), but the bottom line is that this is just a statistic.

Interpret it cautiously and you will be fine.

Here is a graph from of the original data set from a selection of majors, and only for the LSAT.

By the way, that graph is slightly misleading. Economics is missing (9.0%), so Philosophy is not actually second but third (it is, however, the highest-scoring of all the humanities). Engineering (8.0%) should be forth.

Making conclusions based on statistical data is a tricky thing.

One rather startling conclusion is philosophy’s dominance of the scores.

This is why I said earlier that many philosophy department websites have references to this (or similar) statistics. Anybody who has taken a philosophy course understands that while the issues philosophers study are often metaphysical and without answer, their approach to studying this issue is crucially based on logical reasoning, formal thought, and tactful analysis — many skills they have in common with their scientific brothers, the mathematicians.

It’s no fluke that many mathematicians were philosophers and vice versa. Their histories are intertwined.

That’s all I’ll say on that issue. But make your own conclusions.

To follow, my actual advice.

Lately, as you can probably tell, I’ve been trying to revive some inter-blog discussion. Which is, as you’ve also probably guessed, another way of shoveling my own writing responsibilities onto other fellow bloggers.

This time around, we’re going to turn to NYCWD, our esteemed blogger from New York City.

First, the basics:

Postdoctoral Researcher (aka Postdoc)
A postdoc is, in simplest terms, a freshly minted doctor who, now having completed the last vestige of educational hand-holding, finds himself or herself completely bewildered by the frightening prospect of getting a ‘real’ job…you know…out there. So instead, he or she undertakes a few more years of educational hand-holding before being finally booted out — to sink or swim.

You know how some undergrads do a Master’s because they’re not sure what else to do? And some (clearly deluded) Master’s do a Ph.D. because they’re still not sure? Yeah. It’s the same with a Postdoc. It cushions the blow of landing a fully-fledged job in academia or (god forbid) industry.

It’s like academic procrastination, but with a fancy title and a shit salary.

But in a few years, this final stage of academic procrastination will be a reality for me. I’ll be an honest-to-god doctor (not the kind who helps people, mind you), and I’ll have to decide where to do my postdoc.

The three options are: (1) Stay here, (2) Return to the Motherland, or (3) Head to America.

Of course, the logic is, at least if I do (3) and not (1), I’ll avoid the dirty looks I get in England when I whip out my pseudo-American accent ( “It’s Canadian asshole.”)

Okay, so if it comes down to the States, there are a few possibilities. One of them is in New York.

Which, I’ll be honest, scares me.

Having grown up in a city of 850,000 which I can only describe as ‘perfect’, and now relocated to a city of 150,000 which I’ll describe as ‘crowded’, it blows my mind to even consider one day living (albeit temporarily) in a city that — properly equipped — can probably invade Canada. Christ.

It’s not like I’ve never been to New York. I have. A long time ago. I remember it as being dirty, humongous, and way, way too much for my little pee-brain to handle.

And let’s be honest, the portrayal of New York students on TV (e.g. Felicity) isn’t comforting. There, the characters are always pebbles of sand on an all-expansive beach, living in teensy dorms, and performing sexual favours in dark alleys just to keep up with the rent (I forget which episode that was).

So where does my future lie? Is there a place for me in America? In New York City?

Or will it be too much for me to handle?

That is the question I pass off to NYCWD and my dear readers.

Dave has taken to complaining over the fact that his last exam ends on April 18th 2008, days after most of his friends are already enjoying newfound freedom — you know, frolicking in the cool spring breeze, playing with the rabbits, kittens, or whatever. (It’s been ages since I’ve had a proper summer and I’ve forgotten what is it, exactly, that we do).

However, let me take this opportunity to remind the lazy git that his last exam ends before the third term even begins for me and my scholarly brethren (that would be the 21st of April).

Yes. We have a third term. Yes, I still teach in this third term. Yes, it will be glorious.

So STFU, motherfucker.