PhD pedigree - more important in political science than public policy or public administration?

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PhD pedigree - more important in political science than public policy or public administration?

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Started 2 months ago by anon
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anon
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If there is anything PSJR is consistent about it is the supposed pedigree of CHYMPS PhD holders. Everyone seems to agree that getting your political science degree from one of these schools is not only enough to get you a job, but often hiring committees will prefer CHYMPS pedigree over someone from a "lesser" school that has more or higher quality publication(s).

Does this preference for pedigree above all else carry over into public policy and public administration departments? I just don’t see for example the public administration people freaking out whenever a new faculty hire has their PhD in PA from Syracuse (a top ranked school for PA). On the other hand in political science, people definitely seem to treat the CHYMPS PhDs with more respect, even when it is not earned.

Admittedly this is all based on my personal observation, but I am curious to see what PSJR thinks. Are public administration and public policy departments less obsessed with PhD pedigree than political science departments?

Posted 2 months ago #
anon
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Yes. It carries over to all walks of life. See, for example, Clarence Thomas

Posted 2 months ago #
anon
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You're curious to see what PSJR thinks? Put down the bottle and step away from your computer.

Posted 2 months ago #
anon
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Always go for the very best ranked school, whether applying as a grad student or hiring a new faculty colleague. The cream always rises to the top.

Posted 2 months ago #
IR Comparative
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I'll bite. Pedigree is less important in public policy or PA than it is in political science. Part of this is the fact that many elite programs don't even really have those subjects, and part is that some public schools that are low on the political science totem pole are quite good at PA and/or public policy. For instance, Kansas is actually a really good school in PA.

Posted 2 months ago #
Anon
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Add to that, that the candidate pools in PA and policy are incredibly shallow, and you've got it.

Posted 2 months ago #
anon
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The PA candidate pools are actually quite strong and have been for some time now in my experience (lower ranked R1). Its true you will have less PA PhD people for open PA positions (whereas you'll get tons of PS PhD applicants for every open PS position), but you also have far less PA PhD programs to begin with. I have noticed far more horrible PS candidates - by horrible I mean thinking how their program let them go on the market with their job talk/writing sample quality. I think OP has the general trend right - pedigree isn't as important for PA.

Other PA/PS culture differences I've noticed from being in a school with both of them:
(1) PA doesn't seem to have the same obsession with whether a publication is single authored or co-authored. PS scholars seem suspicious/conspiratorial if someone does a lot of co-authoring in their departments, the PA scholars seem to view all collaboration as a good thing generally.
(2) While PA top journals are PAR and JPART, I don't get the same sense that publishing outside of those or top subfield journals are considered to be as "worthless" as they appear to be considered in PS. PA scholars seem to much less concerned with that - journal quality is important but I've seen good PA articles from respected scholars in all types of "lower ranked" PA journals.

It is a culture difference, although I am not sure why.

Posted 2 months ago #
anon
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Syracuse or Indiana are top places for PA. Pedigree means something different for PA that's all. Why is this so puzzling?

Posted 2 months ago #

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PhD pedigree - more important in political science than public policy or public administration?

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