Decision-making time?

[AaronM]

Turned down my offers from Irvine, Notre Dame, and Texas so I'm down to three offers now: Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana. Its getting to crunch time!

[La_Di_Da]

Turned down my offers from Irvine, Notre Dame, and Texas so I'm down to three offers now: Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana. Its getting to crunch time!

 

Woot!

[ekc]

Hi all. Looking for some advice as decision time approaches. I am strongly considering two schools, a top 5 school and NYU. I know this has been discussed a bit, but how important do you think rank is in finding a job placement? I really enjoyed visiting NYU and believe it is an excellent fit for my interests, but am doubting the decision because of the difference in rank. I haven't been to the higher ranked school yet, but based on the faculty I'm guessing it is not as good of a fit.

 

At the outset, I didn't want to consider rank at all in making my decision, but visiting schools and hearing grad students talk about the pressure to find a job has given me second thoughts. Advice? Assurance? Your experience finding a job?

[mbrown0315]

Hi all. Looking for some advice as decision time approaches. I am strongly considering two schools, a top 5 school and NYU. I know this has been discussed a bit, but how important do you think rank is in finding a job placement? I really enjoyed visiting NYU and believe it is an excellent fit for my interests, but am doubting the decision because of the difference in rank. I haven't been to the higher ranked school yet, but based on the faculty I'm guessing it is not as good of a fit.

 

At the outset, I didn't want to consider rank at all in making my decision, but visiting schools and hearing grad students talk about the pressure to find a job has given me second thoughts. Advice? Assurance? Your experience finding a job?

 

As you noted, there has been a lot of discussion on this point, and I'm not sure if there is any consensus. From what I can tell, the most important thing you can show when entering the job market is your productivity. If you have a solely-authored AJS publication, that's going to count for a lot regardless of where you got your training. Still, I think rank is a meaningful variable. Coming out of a T10 school does give you some competitive edge, and I don't think that it necessarily results from better training. In other words, I think there is an independent benefit to graduating from a T10.

 

Definitely visit your T5 and pitch your research interests to anyone you think might be interested. Also, remember that there may be opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Perhaps you'll find an adviser from a different department at the university. That said, if you can't find anyone who can really support you, then I recommend going to NYU. NYU is ranked high enough that being highly productive there is far better than being moderately productive at a T5. However, you should also keep in mind that your fit with the program could change if your interests change.

Edited March 31, 2013 by mbrown0315

[ekc]

As you noted, there has been a lot of discussion on this point, and I'm not sure if there is any consensus. From what I can tell, the most important thing you can show when entering the job market is your productivity. If you have a solely-authored AJS publication, that's going to count for a lot regardless of where you got your training. Still, I think rank is a meaningful variable. Coming out of a T10 school does give you some competitive edge, and I don't think that it necessarily results from better training. In other words, I think there is an independent benefit to graduating from a T10.

 

Definitely visit your T5 and pitch your research interests to anyone you think might be interested. Also, remember that there may be opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Perhaps you'll find an adviser from a different department at the university. That said, if you can't find anyone who can really support you, then I recommend going to NYU. NYU is ranked high enough that being highly productive there is far better than being moderately productive at a T5. However, you should also keep in mind that your fit with the program could change if your interests change.

 

Thanks mbrown0315. I wish there were an easy answer!

[gilbertrollins]

On productivity v rank: I talked to a senior faculty at a T20 who told me he goes straight to the writing sample on job market. "Nobody gets on the short list without publications. It's not like it was years ago. Nobody gets hired on promise anymore, because of phone calls from their adviser." That said, I've had several faculty at all my lower ranked offers openly discuss in which ways the training will be better at a T5. It's. matter of maximizing your productivity and quality of pubs based on a multi-dimensional set of program attributes. Productivity is the goal. Not brand names. Nobody cares if you went to Berkeley if you don't finish.