Undergrad ranked far above grad school?

[Guest Dante]

I have something of the opposite problem of this poster: [http]

I attended a top Ivy for my undergraduate, straight out of crappy public school in Appalachia -- I worked hard in high school, sure, but got in mainly by virtue of being one of only a handful from my state to even apply. I busted tail in an interdisciplinary humanities major and graduated with middling Latin honors, but nowhere near impressive enough to get into a similar school for a PhD. I've always wanted to be an academic, and having tasted an East Coast elite university, I want nothing more than to end up in a place like that again.

The problem? My field is very small in number of admits but crowded with applicants, and all the top grad schools only seemed to take summas and Marshall scholars and kids with astounding publication records. I'd love to be an academic star, and I'm darned good at research, but I just can't compete with my very classmates to get into top programs. Not to mention the stellar grads of little liberal arts colleges and underlooked state schools who deserve to get into top PhD programs. They all had better CV's than mine and should have gotten in.

So, after being at my dream grad schools, I took a funded PhD offer from a much-lower ranked state school. Paying for a masters wasn't an aoption at any of them. I'm happy with the program, I'm going to do my best to make a name for myself in the field -- but I can't shake the fear that when I head out into the job market my CV will be trashed the moment they see my graduate school is ranked far below my undergrad school. ("Ah, ha! A slacker!") I'm not an elitist -- I'll probably be more comfotable in this new school, I know many grads from its PhD program get good, tenure track jobs, but all of them have come from the same institution or lower-ranked undergrad schools.

I'm worried that I won't be able to find a job or be taken seriously on the job hunt not because of where I got my PhD but because I didn't show progression up the prestige food chain or lateral shift to a "peer" institution from my undergrad to grad. I've heard it's common to choose grad schools for particular specializations, but in my case it's because I didn't get in anywhere else.

Any thoughts? Am I being paranoid? I want to show my new program they made the right choice when others turned me down.

[Guest Olivia]

I just want to let you know that I'm kind of in a similar situation. I attended an Ivy League school for undergrad and have decided to attend a state school to continue my education. The difference is, I was accepted to higher ranked graduate schools but the one that I ultimately decided on is better in my area of specialization (and I also liked the faculty, students, location and financial offer a lot more than those other places). Now, this state school isn't bad - it's a top 50 program and their placement rate for their graduates is actually better than those higher ranked schools. But now I'm beginning to worry how the name of the school will affect me later on - am I going to have to work extra hard to 'make up' for where I got my PhD, or will I be able to start on a level playing field? Of course, it is also difficult to deal with criticisms from family and friends, many of whom are attending 'brand name' places like Stanford or Yale.

[Guest le05]

i went to a top 5 liberal arts college for undergrad and will be going to a state school for my phd...but the state school i'm going to is ranked top 3 in my field. so while people in my field know that and i'm not super-worried about jobs and things, it is strange to tell random people from my (working class, if they went to college it was definitely state school) past that i'm going to local-state-school-that-happens-to-be-great-in-my-field after having gone to a fancy private school. it's a different situation. but some of the social reactions may be similar.

[rising_star]

I'm totally in with all of you. Ivy League (and one of the high ranked ones) for undergrad, and going to a large state school for my MA. Not that that's a bad thing, I think I'll be much happier there both academically and socially. Just no one understands why I didn't go to a higher ranked or more prestigious school. *sigh*

[chebi]

Actually, from what I've read and heard from academics, the climate is changing in regards to hiring Ivy League graduates for positions in academia. At least this is what I've heard in the field of foreign languages. Lots of departments nationwide have complained that the Ivy schools don't prepare their PhD graduates well enough for the job market in foreign languages, so they are showing some hesitance in hiring them.

Regardless of all of the above, while a degree from Harvard or Yale or whereever looks impressive, the first thing people look at when they hire you is how many publications you have and the second thing they look at is how many conferences you have done. Like if someone gets their PhD from Harvard and has no publications while you have 4, then naturally they will prefer you in most cases. So, basically, you'll just have to work hard because you won't be able to coast by on a name.

[Guest Dante]

I feel better knowing I'm not alone in this boat. Time to tighten the belt, work really hard, and ignore those glances from my undergrad friends going to private national universities whose names roll off the tongue.

Sigh.

[jrw72]

You are just going to have to work a bit harder than your contemporaries at more prestigious universities. All prestige does is open doors (and introduce you to hidden networks). In order to break back in, you will have to be a little bit better. The truly sad story is that at the end of this process, we all will probably be thrilled if ANY school, let alone a prestigious one, wants to hire us.