mareserinitatis Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 I'm sorry you've had such a resoundingly negative experience with academics and academia. Unfortunately, that's a wrong assessment of the situation. I've been very careful to pick advisors who I get along with well. I think the problem here may be more of perspective. You're in the social sciences. I'm in the physical sciences and engineering. Perhaps in your general area, people are more open-minded in that regard. In science and engineering, things get awfully cut-throat. My personal experience has been great. I was able to work on an MS part-time while raising a family with no pressure from my advisor. However, I was told by multiple people (professors, most from other schools) that I'd be ruining my career if I stayed here for a PhD. I don't think most places would give my PhD program apps a second look (because of the part-time thing) except for the fact that I started my undergrad at an incredibly prestigious school. Things like that can be the foot in the door. No, it *may* not get you the job, but you certainly can't get a job if they aren't even interested in interviewing you because you're competing with grads from top-notch schools. I hope your assumptions about peoples' motives are true in your area. However, they aren't in mine, and I don't want someone to assume it's like you describe in every field or at every school. I can assure you that I'm not "scare-mongering"...I'm trying to let people know what I've been told. I would personally like to stay here to finish my PhD because it would be a lot easier on my family. But I also want very badly to be a professor...and I've been told flat out that my chances are pretty slim if I don't go to a better school by people who are in a position to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingwalrus Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Rank certainly matters in political science, at least when it comes to getting academic jobs. Certain departments place well for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santana Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 No ranking is not important while you are studying. You can really study anywhere you want as long as you can get in. I see a lot of people brag here applying for Temple University (~10,000 graduate students) and nobody brags about Duke (~7,000). That must be because they are not aware of rankings. Rankings are not important, really. It is only important when you look for a job and for career, social status, bragging etc. Seriously, you can hardly anywhere find so much discrimination and segregation practices as you can find in the US system of education. It is basically a casta system, based on financial status and class position. There is little of social mobility which is professed only in Holywood movies and political advertisments for the naive. Rankings determine one's career and therefore life as well. That is the reality. Everybody is well aware of them, even those who would deny it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMEballer Posted April 8, 2008 Share Posted April 8, 2008 Everyone reading this post: please just talk to your research mentor or a professor you trust that's in your field of interest. They will probably give you a candid assessment of your situation, and they definitely know what they're talking about. Tell them your current options and your future goals. Often they will know the professors of the labs you're thinking of working in and the quality of the work, if you're entering the same field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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