Placement vs. reputation

It took me a couple days to see this Insidehighered.com article about a study of job placement in top political science programs. Although the study seems a little problematic (because it emphasizes placement at research universities), what's important is that it finds that the reputation of a program as measured in national rankings does not correlate precisely to its success in job placement. The article is here. I have not had a chance to read the original paper, but it's here. Of course, it would be terrific if someone conducted a similar kind of study in English. You might note that Emory's pol. sci. department was one that came off looking well in the study.

I'll also point out that I came across the article thanks to Richard Vedder's blog. Vedder is an economist who has a "Center for College Affordability and Productivity." While I certainly don't agree with everything Vedder says, I think he's worth reading because he so scrupulously consistent in the way he calls attention to the finances of higher education.