lost_15

Now I understand what you meant by "worse comes to worse" in your first post. Thanks for clarifying!

Thank you, rising_star! It's great to know that students are taken care of when professors move!

TakeruK, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences! This helps tremendously!! I am very grateful.

That's good to know. I'll ask mine, too. Thanks!

This is very valuable advice for me! Thank you!!

Really? I wasn't sure this is something I could bring up...

TakeruK, thanks for the suggestions, an untenured POI is indeed one of my concerns, but I'm also worried about how much support I could get from POI at school A when I'm in the job market since I will be his first Ph.D. student. Do you have any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance.

Hi all, Thank you so much for responding! I appreciate everyone's suggestions. SA_Hopeful, MathCat, and GeoDUDE!, yes, an untenured POI is indeed one of my concerns. I am admitted to work with this specific faculty member, and I can't change, because he is (and will continue to be) the only one in the department in my specific field. He started in Fall 2013, and I will be his first Ph.D. student if I choose to go. The department just denied tenure for an assistant professor last year and that faculty member had to leave. As far as I know, the requirement for getting tenure is two books. My POI at school A has no books yet. GeoDUDE!, thanks a lot for the information on students of professors who were denied tenure from Ivy schools. This is very helpful!

Thanks for the quick response, jujubea. I just wanted to save people some time...

Hello, I've been debating which school I should attend, and I would appreciate any suggestions or comments. School A: Top 5 in the field, Ivy school, fellowship for 5 years. POI is a young assistant professor who just started. School B: Ranked about 20 in the field, public university, funding is limited (includes TA and not guaranteed for 5 years). POI is an associate professor, somewhat established. POI's Ph.D. advisor, Prof. X, is one of my three references. Prof. X is an authority in my field, but he can't take me as his graduate student because he will retire soon, so he recommended me to one of his previous students -- POI at school B. Prof. X was like a mentor to me in the past year, and I know I can count on him if I encounter problems in my future study, if I go to school B. (I think I will lose his support if I go to school A, because that's in a different subfield.) My career goal is to look for an academic position after I finish graduate school. I've looked at the CVs of many faculty members in my field, and almost all of them received their Ph.Ds from top schools. I haven't seen anyone with a Ph.D. from school B. So I'm quite worried what my future would be if I go to school B. I'd be grateful for any advices or thoughts.