"Universities to fear" Wiki

"Universities to fear" Wiki

da_dude_abides 07 Dec 2011 05:19

A colleague passed along the "Universities to fear" Wiki: http://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/Universities_to_fear

The wiki seems dominated by the Humanities, but a few institutions with which I am familiar have general admin comments, interview, negotiation, and tenure denial info.

Do we really have it together in psychology? Or, are none of our Psych bretheren aware of this Wiki?

mmmmmmm (guest) 07 Dec 2011 11:46

I have personally never heard of it. However, a school I had a phone interview (twice!) was on there. I wish I would have known about this site prior to taking the second interview (and luckily I did not get the position) but I had a bad feeling about the school. My family told me that I was probably "reading too much into their actions" but I was right! Eww!

Re: "Universities to fear" Wiki

socialite 07 Dec 2011 12:27

This website looks like a somewhat ridiculous place for people to post complaints that clearly seem to reflect self-serving bias and/or immaturity. I'm not suggesting that such a resource would not be useful, but this particular form that of that resource is pretty ridiculous.

Jen (guest) 21 Jan 2015 21:15

@socialite: What do you find so ridiculous in job candidates sharing from their interviewing experience? This is actually a very useful web site. I would definitely not count sharing a bad experience and lack of professionalism displayed by some departments as "self-serving bias and/or immaturity". Most, if not all the issues brought up by job candidates do happen, and if I am on the job market, I want to know. If I go for an interview and have a bad feeling, I am happy to see that others, before me, had similar experiences… it's reassuring that I make the right decision declining a job offer in one of these "universities to fear". This may be a tough economy, but there are still universities where, no matter how desperate candidates may be, they don't need to take their c—p.

anonlily (guest) 21 Jan 2015 21:48

I agree that it's a good resource. I was treated badly at one institution last year and got really bad vibes while on the campus visit….and that school is on the list. It didn't stop me from going on the interview but I agree with the complaints. Some institutions don't treat faculty well and I'm glad that they didn't hire me b/c I would have been miserable there, especially as a minority.

anonbanon (guest) 22 Jan 2015 14:43

My guess is most psych people simply don't know of it, as we have this wiki, whereas other fields use the generic "academic job wiki" that is associated with those "universities to fear" and "universities to love" lists.