Is top 20 a myth

[csKid]

I know that people who graduate from top schools end up in affluent jobs (assistant profs, research directors), while those go beyond some range, have to do post docs to get an academic job or a research job. I also know that most often it depends on contacts that the advisor has and i develop over grad school, that helps me when getting a job. But what I see is that almost almost all programs that I have applied to have doctoral faculty from, so called top schools. If facultyy got a doctoral degree from a good college and ended up in a job there, then they are predictably good enough. I agree to the factor that peers would be a different lot when I go to non top schools. If my advisor is good and i'm good enough, at the end of the day, would it prevent me from doing good in life, probably after a lot of soul-searching and knowing that i'm not the best in the number game.

Do small schools get noticed by these rankings? Would you go for a number if there was a better research match or a conducive environment. (home over other-state).

Edited March 24, 2011 by rejectMeNot

[neuropsych76]

I know that people who graduate from top schools end up in affluent jobs (assistant profs, research directors), while those go beyond some range, have to do post docs to get an academic job or a research job. I also know that most often it depends on contacts that the advisor has and i develop over grad school, that helps me when getting a job. But what I see is that almost almost all programs that I have applied to have doctoral faculty from, so called top schools. If facultyy got a doctoral degree from a good college and ended up in a job there, then they are predictably good enough. I agree to the factor that peers would be a different lot when I go to non top schools. If my advisor is good and i'm good enough, at the end of the day, would it prevent me from doing good in life, probably after a lot of soul-searching and knowing that i'm not the best in the number game.

Do small schools get noticed by these rankings? Would you go for a number if there was a better research match or a conducive environment. (home over other-state).

I'm wondering this as well but from what I've heard, rankings do not matter nearly as much as research productivity. I'll most likely be attending a "mid-range" program but I'm hoping having a highly productive advisor and good work ethic can bode well for future positions after grad school.

[anotherflunky]

Assistant profs are affluent? hahahahahaha

hahahaha

haha

hah

...

[csKid]

Affluent is a relative term. Respected should replace it

Assistant profs are affluent? hahahahahaha

hahahaha

haha

hah

...

[metasyntactic]

Some hiring committees do take the pedigree of PhD into account. However, what really matters is the reputation a school has in a particular research area. You mostly see faculty from top 20 schools because the top 20 tend to have strong labs in all subfields (if not at one institution then over all of them). Also, in the end what matters more (after you get the interview) is how convincing your research is and how well you are able to convince others.

[csperson]

It seems that in every lowly ranked school, there are several CS professors who graduated from top 20 schools...

But if you look at UIUC CS, there is at least one professor who went to a non-top school.

Edited March 30, 2011 by csperson