According to a study by economist David Colander, getting a
Ph.D. in English from a non-elite university is essentially of little or no
value:
Where Do PhDs in
English Get Jobs? An Economist’s View of the English PhD Market
By David Colander and
Daisy Zhuo
Abstract
This is an economist’s
consideration of the PhD job market in English and comparative literature. It
provides data about the job market at schools in various tiers, demonstrating
that supply of new English PhDs far exceeds demand for English PhDs in
tenure-track academic jobs. It suggests a number of policies to improve the
situation, including that the MLA strongly encourage programs to provide better
job placement data to applying students, programs be tailored to prepare
students for the jobs they actually have a chance of getting, and the
culminating research focus of the program be rethought.
Related,