Name of school/ranking

[fake187]

How important is it later on (postdoc, etc.) the name of the school (prestige)/ranking? Obviously this is subjective, just want to get some other opinions

[GH1D]

What faculty have told me is the school prestige can help, but that looking at the programs placement is a much better predictor of outcomes. Some university's may have weak grad programs despite being ranked as a strong university. 

[PsychPhdBound]

What I've heard that makes it even more complicated is that an advisor could be very well regarded in a subfield, even though their program is ranked "low". For example, someone I'm looking at is really well known in the field but is in a department that's ranked ~90th. She used to be at a "top tier" institution but moved a few years back to raise her kids where she's from. So I was told that it was important to look at how she's viewed and where her students end up, not just the department as a whole. And her students, from her new institution, have indeed gone on to do amazing things. It seems like as long as you're an outstanding candidate, even from a "lower" you can still go on to do important work. Will you get a TT position at Michigan, probably not, but that doesn't mean you can't be successful.

[hopefulgrad2019]

20 minutes ago, PsychPhdBound said:

What I've heard that makes it even more complicated is that an advisor could be very well regarded in a subfield, even though their program is ranked "low". For example, someone I'm looking at is really well known in the field but is in a department that's ranked ~90th. She used to be at a "top tier" institution but moved a few years back to raise her kids where she's from. So I was told that it was important to look at how she's viewed and where her students end up, not just the department as a whole. And her students, from her new institution, have indeed gone on to do amazing things. It seems like as long as you're an outstanding candidate, even from a "lower" you can still go on to do important work. Will you get a TT position at Michigan, probably not, but that doesn't mean you can't be successful.

I did my post bac at Michigan and we had post docs and faculty from a range of universities. It’s all about your CV and networking through grad school.