I am a prospective Ph.D student interested in applied linguistics (second language acquisition, language learning, bilingualism, and technology). I have been looking at different programs and have found a few that share my interests. My top two choices are Indiana University-Bloomington (which actually has two different programs: http://education.indiana.edu/graduate/programs/literacy-culture-language/index.html and http://www.indiana.edu/~dsls/degrees/phdSLS.shtml) and the University of South Florida (Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Technology program - http://www.coedu.usf.edu/slait/).
IU has a high ranked education department (according to US News, #21) and they have some big names in their School of Education and in their linguistics department. USF, on the other hand has a much lower ranking. Their education department is #74, and their PhD program is ranked 45-50 by the NRC. I am not sure about their faculty.
My question is, how much do rankings and names matter when getting a job? Any input would be great!
Thanks
