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James S Murphy

Sep 29, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read • Read on X

Some universities are admitting no grad students in the humanities this year. It should probably be all of them. chronicle.com/article/more-d…

There are currently 36 assistant professor listings in the US and Canada for jobs teaching literature in English. 5 are in listed as American lit. 3 are listed as British.

It gets worse. 7 of those 36 jobs are in creative writing, so we're really talking about 29 jobs for *every English Phd earned a PhD in the past couple years*.

I feel so awful for the people who spent so much time and worked hard to earn a degree for which there are no jobs.

I have no sympathy for the departments that kept accepting grad students to do low-paid labor, knowing that they were likely not going to find a job in the field.

I feel contempt for any department that did not fully fund any grad students through their dissertations.

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James S Murphy

@James_S_Murphy

Nov 16

This is such good reporting from the @harvardcrimeson:

There are about 27,000 high schools in the U.S.

Over the past 15 years, 1 in 11 students at Harvard have come from just 21 high schools.

So 9.1% of Harvard students come from 0.07% of US schools. @nytdavidbrooks

This is no accident. It's a stated priority of Harvard admissions.

The longtime dean of admissions said they're in the business of creating 100 year relationships with schools. He said this in a trial where Harvard was, believe it or not, trying to show it's fair.

Legacy, too, plays its role, as these are the kind of schools where wealthy alumni send their kids.

Here's a link to the Crimson piece: interactives.thecrimson.com/2024/news/feed…

Read 6 tweets

James S Murphy

@James_S_Murphy

Jul 31, 2023

Some pointers for people who work with students on college applications:

1. The @usedgov will be releasing resources to colleges and universities addressing lawful admissions practices by Aug 15.

2. Don't listen to anyone's advice on how to advise students too much until then.

3. Yes, the @CommonApp opens tomorrow, but students can get to work on everything but the essay while we wait to see what ED says.

4. Chances are, little changes for students or their applications due to the SFFA decision.

5. Students should not be afraid of identifying themselves by race & ethnicity anywhere in their application.

6. Students can & should check the race/ethnicity box. It's up to colleges to redact that info if they don't want readers to see it.

Read 8 tweets

James S Murphy

@James_S_Murphy

Mar 12, 2023

2023
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature.

2013
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature

1999
College freshmen no longer know how to read literature

Read 5 tweets

James S Murphy

@James_S_Murphy

Mar 10, 2023

@usnews

What's extraordinary about the @usnews Best Colleges reputation wurvey is that ANYONE FILLS IT OUT AT ALL.

Let's take a look 🧵

https://twitter.com/jbeowulf/status/1633911097542451202

The most heavily weighted single factor in the Best Colleges rankings is Undergraduate Academic Reputation, which USN calls "Expert Opinion."

Here's the thing: there is absolutely no way the presidents, provosts, and deans of admissions they send the survey to can be qualified to answer the questions, let alone claim expertise.

Read 13 tweets

James S Murphy

@James_S_Murphy

Mar 6, 2023

Let's talk about some dumb stuff people say about test optional admissions. 🧵

This might take a sec, so here's the tl;dr:

TO policies, in and of themselves, are neither a cure-all for what's wrong with American higher ed nor the end of what's good about it, but the evidence points to their doing some good and no harm.

Let's define TO first.

A test-optional policy is one that allows applicants to decide whether they want their test score to be considered. It does not "get rid of tests" or "ban tests."

Almost every 4-yr college in the US is currently test optional.

Read 28 tweets

James S Murphy

@James_S_Murphy

Mar 4, 2023

When your flex shows just how weak you are.

For decades, colleges, med schools, and law schools have all made the point that standardized tests exist to show readiness to succeed in college or grad school.

Rankings were one of the incentives to focus on scores well beyond the readiness threshold and overemphasize tests. That emphasis has excluded lots of people who were highly qualified to become lawyers and doctors.

Read 4 tweets

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