<p>If a high number of Swarthmore econ majors get PhD's.... how does that square with Interestdad's earlier statement that Deloitte and Goldman Sachs were the two largest employers of Swarthmore undergrads- many of whom, presumably, are econ majors? Do the econ kids go off to Goldman Sachs, and then, as a result of their early training at a highly intellectual, theoretical place like Swat, realize the error of their ways and end up getting a PhD, whereas the kids at Goldman from other institutions end up staying in banking? Or are these stats meaningless?</p>
<p>Time to find another number to crunch, my friend.</p>
<p>And to answer the earlier query, many pulpit Rabbi's have PhD's; many study for a PsyD or EdD. The Rabbinic ordination, in an of itself, does not have an equivalent in academic parlance... typically called "smicha", which is given after intense study in Jewish law, in concert with, but separate from, the academic degree granted by the institution. Most Rabbinical schools in the US require a BA or BS before smicha, and many require an MA as well.</p>
<p>There are Rabbi's who study at Divinity school, but usually after they have completed smicha, and they are rarely at Divinity school for a D. Div. </p>
<p>Whether the stats for Cal Tech and MIT is at all useful for your average 17 or 18 year old trying to decide where to go, I leave to the collective wisdom of this board. In my experience, most kids make the decision based on weather (huge difference), finances (Cal Tech has merit aid, MIT does not), field of interest (if you're an Engineering/Music double major, and we know several at MIT, you don't go to Cal Tech), and "college town ambiance" (some kids love Cambridge/Boston, others don't). If Interestdad knows an 18 year old who is more interested in PhD production than these other decision-making factors, more power to him.</p>