Those are chosen by the institution (usually a staff person) posting the job, not APSA. Lots of rank confusion, conflation of “administration” with “public administration”, etc.—system could be better perhaps, but not really APSA‘s fault.

And I’m not sure why this is dopier than posting on your blog that you don’t think much of the institution with which you just completed interviewing! Sheesh.

Thanks for the clarification. Then again, the categories themselves aren’t all that helpful either in a lot of circumstances (they really shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, which would get rid of the annoying “Open and Multiple Ranks” category that wastes a lot of my time too), which would seem to fall on the shoulders of APSA.

For what it’s worth, I think you read too much into my comment about the institution I had a phone interview with. It’s a perfectly good institution (if it weren’t, I wouldn’t have applied for the position), just not at the top of my rank ordering of preferences—the whole “satisficing” versus “optimal” thing. Since virtually nobody gets their dream job, I don’t know that should be all that surprising.

And, if my candidness stops them from hiring me—oh well, I’ll live. They’re probably better off knowing I have my own opinions now than having to learn that the hard way down the line. And they might rationally be better off flying in three other people who potentially do have them at the top of their lists (because of geography, because they want to work in a master’s department, because they want a 3–3 load, whatever), or at least are more willing to take any job that is offered to them. Thankfully, I’m not in a position—professionally or personally—where I have to take a position I know already isn’t going to be the job I want for the rest of my life.

Of course, if they read the blog already, they’d have seen this post or this one, which suggests that either they (a) don’t read it or (b) have serious reading comprehension issues.

Back to Stargate, I’m even boring myself now…