Paul Campos wrote:Doorkeeper wrote:Paul Campos wrote:Seriously?
I don't really see what the problem is here. Care to elaborate instead of just being snarky?
The problem is that the way you frame this makes it sound as if in a typical year only about 17 UMLS grads (from all graduating classes) would like to get a tenure-track academic job, and that 30% succeed. That's what a 30% placement rate would normally mean -- three out of ten people who want that kind of job get it. In fact the number of applicants reflects the fact that only a tiny percentage of UMLS grads have a shot at a tenure track position. This factor shouldn't really be a consideration for somebody in the OP's situation.
Law schools cannot stop their graduates from applying on the academic market. They can discourage them all they want, or tell them that they're not ready yet, etc, etc, but they have no formal powers to stop any potential candidate from seeking academic employment. I understand this statistic is not normal compared to most percentages thrown around in TLS, but I fail to see how this makes it less informative once that consideration is kept in mind. This statistic only looses relevance if it loses relation to the amount of law school graduates who pursue academia is not related to the amount who apply for academia. This is not the case.