Graduate Placement Record
Since 2008, the Western Michigan MA program has placed nearly all students seeking a higher degree (~90%). Most of these students have gone on to pursue doctoral degrees in philosophy at top-ranked PhD programs and all of them have received full funding packages to support their studies. Other WMU graduates have pursued advanced degrees in a variety of areas including law, the humanities and social sciences, and theology. Students who have chosen not to pursue a further degree (roughly 10% of students since 2008) have found rewarding careers in education, business, or other pursuits. After completing their doctoral degree programs, our graduate students have also obtained tenure-track jobs at philosophy departments, including University at Albany, University of Utah, Virginia Polytechnic University, York University, University of Columbia and Australia Catholic University.
Placement summary
Annual data*
*Unless otherwise noted, placement is into a Ph.D. program in philosophy with full funding.
2025 Graduates
| Student 1 | UCLA |
| Student 2 | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
| Student 3 | University of Cincinnati |
| Student 4 | Turned down multiple fully-funded offers to apply again next year |
| Student 5 | Turned down a fully-funded offer to apply again next year |
| Student 6 | Will apply again next year |
2024 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of Indiana |
| Student 2 | University of Colorado, Boulder |
| Student 3 | Baylor University |
| Student 4 | Boston College |
| Student 5 | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
2023 Graduates
| Student 1 | Columbia University |
| Student 2 | University of Wisconsin |
| Student 3 | University of Indiana |
| Student 4 | Boston University |
2022 Graduates
| Student 1 | Northwestern University |
| Student 2 | University of California, Santa Barbara |
| Student 3 | University of Minnesota |
| Student 4 | SUNY Binghamton |
| Student 5 | University of Georgia |
2021 Graduates
| Student 1 | Notre Dame |
| Student 2 | University of Texas, Austin |
| Student 3 | University of Virginia |
| Student 4 | University of Edinburgh Law School |
2020 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of Michigan Law School (with tuition assistance) |
| Student 2 | University of Virginia |
| Student 3 | University of Connecticut |
2019 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of Michigan |
| Student 2 | University of Texas, Austin |
| Student 3 | University of Arizona |
| Student 4 | Indiana University (HPS) |
| Student 5 | SUNY, Buffalo |
| Student 6 | SUNY, Buffalo |
| Student 7 | Declined PhD admission offer; teaching philosophy at local university |
2018 Graduates
| Student 1 | Columbia University (Interdisciplinary Humanities Program) |
| Student 2 | University of Colorado, Boulder |
| Student 3 | University of Maryland, College Park |
| Student 4 | University of Virginia |
| Student 5 | University of Michigan Law School (with tuition assistance) |
| Student 6 | Rice University |
| Student 7 | University of Utah |
| Student 8 | Western Michigan (Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program) |
| Student 9 | University of Vermont (Education Program) |
| Student 10 | Instructor, WMU Philosophy department |
2017 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| Student 2 | Northwestern University |
| Student 3 | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
| Student 4 | University of Miami |
| Student 5 | University of Miami |
| Student 6 | University of Washington, Seattle |
| Student 7 | Baylor University |
| Student 8 | University of Nebraska, Lincoln |
| Student 9 | University of Buffalo |
2016 Graduates
| Student 1 | Stanford University |
| Student 2 | University of Oklahoma |
| Student 3 | University of South Carolina |
2015 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of Michigan |
| Student 2 | University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| Student 3 | Rice University |
| Student 4 | University of South Carolina |
| Student 5 | SUNY Binghamton |
| Student 6 | University of Georgia |
| Student 7 | M.A. in linguistics |
| Student 8 | M.A. in theology |
2014 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill |
| Student 2 | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Student 3 | Bowling Green University |
2013 Graduates
| Student 1 | Cornell University |
| Student 2 | University of Iowa |
| Student 3 | Rice University |
| Student 4 | University of Rochester |
| Student 5 | University of Rochester |
| Student 6 | Georgetown University |
| Student 7 | University of Rochester |
2012 Graduates
| Student 1 | Rutgers University |
| Student 2 | University of Rochester |
| Student 3 | Ohio State University |
| Student 4 | St. Louis University |
2011 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of Missouri |
| Student 2 | University of Iowa |
| Student 3 | University of British Columbia |
| Student 4 | University of Kansas |
| Student 5 | University of Cincinnati |
| Student 6 | Tulane University |
| Student 7 | Johns Hopkins University (Cellular and Molecular Medicine) |
2010 Graduates
| Student 1 | Brown University |
| Student 2 | Cambridge University (HPS) |
| Student 3 | University of California, Irvine |
| Student 4 | University of California, Irvine |
| Student 5 | Lewis & Clark (Law School) |
| Student 6 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Student 7 | Ohio State University |
| Student 8 | University of Georgia |
2009 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of Virginia |
| Student 2 | Thomas M. Cooley Law School |
| Student 3 | University of Wisconsin – Madison |
| Student 4 | Bowling Green University |
| Student 5 | University of Colorado – Boulder |
| Student 6 | University of Iowa |
| Student 7 | Not Available |
2008 Graduates
| Student 1 | University of Pittsburg (HPS) |
| Student 2 | Australian National University |
| Student 3 | University of California, Berkeley |
| Student 4 | University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| Student 5 | University of Maryland, College Park |
| Student 6 | Washington University in St. Louis |
| Student 7 | Indiana University (HPS) |
| Student 8 | Indiana University (HPS) |
| Student 9 | Ohio State University |
| Student 10 | State University of New York |