How much effect does a schools global ranking have on your ability to get a job?

[musicStudent245]

I keep hearing that it is impossible to get a job unless you are attending a top 25 university.

 

Right now I am having a difficult time making a decision because of the rankings of the schools I have been accepted to. My top two schools right now are UBC and UCalgary (they both fit my research interests). I have a substantially higher funding package at UCalgary and the department seems to be expanding (especially in the field I am interested in), whereas the department at UBC is continually cutting things - hence why my funding there is less. However, I cannot help but think I will never get a job unless I go to UBC for my Doctorate, since, while it is not top 25, it is top 50. Calgary is only in the top 200, so I am guessing it would be near impossible for me to ever get hired if I attend. Then again, the school does have an aggressive initiative to improve it's ranking over the next 5 years. I really like the idea of going somewhere different for my PhD than my Master's (I did my Master's at UBC) and the funding is better, but I am still struggling because of the rank.

 

Does anyone have any advice for me?

[selecttext]

hired to do what exactly and where? 

[bamafan]

Put simply, very, very little.

[selecttext]

Look, if you were to ask which is the better, more intellectually stimulating environment, it would be easy to answer. As for the job prospects, not so much because you can have a degree from harvard and still rub people the wrong way. Your job prospects ultimately depend on your credentials and charisma - and place of schooling is a notch among many.

[juilletmercredi]

I don't think global reputation of the university matters much unless you intend to go abroad.  What matters far more is your research productivity.  If you can go to Calgary and be productive...then it won't matter as much where you went.  Which university is a better research fit for you?  Where do people work after finishing the PhD at either school?

 

Generally speaking, I think you should follow the money, but I think that depends entirely on how you are comparing the packages.  Does UBC offer you enough funding to live on?  Comparing $25,000 and $35,000 is different from comparing $16,000 and $30,000.  In the former case, I would say go to whichever school is the best fit for you - you can adequately live on either of those stipends in most locations, and it's my opinion that as long as you can adequately live on the stipend provided the most important consideration should be research fit and job prospects.  But in the latter case, $16,000 isn't enough to live on so I would lean more towards the latter package.  So even though the funding is substantially better at Calgary, can you live adequately on the package at UBC?

 

Your field also matters.  If you are getting a PhD in philosophy or English literature or history, program rank will matter more since the field is glutted.  If you are getting your PhD in accounting or nursing, you'll likely be able to find a job even at a lower-ranked school.  But again, ranking matters but not as much as your productivity.  If you publish papers and present and meet with folks, then your CV will speak for itself and you can get more jobs.

[Guest |||]

More influential than that, is the ranking and work being created by the department you are going into.

 

Some schools with excellent reputations have certain excellent departments, others do not.  It will be up to you to look into that.

[musicStudent245]

let me open that question up then:  which school hass the better and more stimulating intellectual environment?

[wtncffts]

let me open that question up then:  which school hass the better and more stimulating intellectual environment?

 

Well, unless someone here is actually in the (music, I'm guessing from your name?) faculties at UBC and Calgary, it's kind of hard to know. I'd say generally UBC is a bigger school with probably more going on. As for the original question, yeah, the top 25 thing doesn't mean much, especially when you're talking about two well-regarded Canadian universities. There's much less difference among schools up here than in the US.  

[spinach]

The best thing to do is to contact the department and ask what their placement rates are.