Like Harvard, Yale, Duke, Stanford, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Oklahoma State, and Chicago. Will I still be able to land a job if I go to a lesser institution or should I strive to get into one of these high caliber schools at all cost?
Like Harvard, Yale, Duke, Stanford, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth, Oklahoma State, and Chicago. Will I still be able to land a job if I go to a lesser institution or should I strive to get into one of these high caliber schools at all cost?
I laughed.
cool
Oklahoma State? LOL
You forgot Oregon.
You claim to be a physicist, yet you don't consider MIT or Cal Tech to be superior to OK State?
Don't forget Barnum and Bailey's Clown College. Best in its field.
On the off chance that you are not trolling...
It is more important that you choose the right prof for grad school than you choose the right "name-brand school."
Every sub-field has a couple profs who are world famous leaders in that sub-field. Occasionally those profs are at "name-brand schools," but more often than not those profs are randomly distributed at schools that don't have name-brand reputations.
Most of the time, you'll be better off working for one of those profs at even a mediocre or poor school than you will be at a name-brand school with some prof who is just average.
No it is not worth it. All those other schools besides the ones you mentioned have conned people for years. The sad truth is that only 4% of anybody that has a graduate degree from lesser schools is still employed in america. Most have been shipped overseas and are working as phone jockeys. While most people think those jobs are going to foreigners, they are really americans too dumb to get into the elite schools but still able to speak english better than the rest of the people of their new homeland.
Ok well this is an obvious troll but I'll answer anyway because I know people are reading: What's more important than the name of the school is the professor or research group that you plan to work for. They have some great research groups in completely mediocre schools. If you publish a paper in Science or Nature nobody will care what school you went to.
Therefore, having some idea of what you're interested in can be helpful. I actually turned down most of the schools on the OP's list to go somewhere that was stronger in the subject I wanted to focus in, and now that I'm near the end of my PhD I'm sure I made the right decision.
Seriously, the school and the guy matters. A lot. Get into the best program and lab you can. It doesn't matter what you study. I don't know what you want to do after grad school, but taking an academic career as an example, check out the pedigrees of recently-appointed assistant professors. Unless you hit it out the park (and don't bet on it), going to a so-so grad school is going to make the rest of your life that much harder.
the sad truth wrote:
No it is not worth it. All those other schools besides the ones you mentioned have conned people for years. The sad truth is that only 4% of anybody that has a graduate degree from lesser schools is still employed in america. Most have been shipped overseas and are working as phone jockeys. While most people think those jobs are going to foreigners, they are really americans too dumb to get into the elite schools but still able to speak english better than the rest of the people of their new homeland.
it looks like I'm going to have to work really hard. I feel certain that with countless hours of studying, and only sleeping 4-7 hours a week I can get my intelligence at least on par with Girma Mencheso, thus gaining access to the elite school Oklahoma State.
The the many others thinking it this is a trolling thread, but responded anyway, I will do the same in the off chance somebody wants the advice.
I knew a guy in a well respected grad program at Pitt who did absolutely horrible work. There was a research proposal that was supposed to be 15 pages due for one class and he turned in one page. He continually performed terribly, and before the end of his first semester her got kicked out because he was not even close to the quality expected.
I just looked his name up the other day and saw he got a MS degree from another school. It makes me realize that the other school's program must have very low standards to graduate. He even lists on his web page that he has "taken courses at Pitt."
I am familiar with quite a few programs that have MS or even PhD degrees, and they are terrible. Some have MS classes that cover less in an entire semester than my undergrad covered in the first 2-3 weeks (no joke). One guy I know got his BS and MS at one place - when he went to Lehigh for his PhD, they made him retake one MS class because they thought the institution he came from was a joke (but accepted him for his potential). He said that in the first class, they covered everything his previous institution covered in an entire semester.
You don't necessarily have to go Ivy Plus, but go to a place that is respected and study under somebody who is respected or has potential to be respected. Otherwise, as previous posters have said, your life will just be more difficult and many will perceive that you don't have a "real degree."
A few things have been missed
1. For an ACADEMIC career, your Post-doc is most important, then Ph.D., then undergrad
2. For an ACADEMIC career, the labs you have worked in are more important than the school if you are applying for a job at a major research university and especially a program with top faculty. Again, post doc lab is most important then Ph.D. lab. Nobody at top research programs care where you went as an undergrad.
3. For an ACADEMIC career, the undergraduate and PhD School you went to could be a big motivator if you are applying to jobs at 2nd and 3rd tier colleges/universities.
4. For an ACADEMIC career, the papers that you publish (quantity, journal quality, impact) will be MOST (above lab and especially school) important if you are applying for a job at a major research university and especially a program with top faculty.
5. For an ACADEMIC career, where you get your undergraduate and Ph.D may be more important than a publishing record if you are applying to jobs at 2nd and 3rd tier colleges and universities.
6. For an ACADEMIC career, your letter of recommendation from your PhD and postdoc advisors will be extremely important if you are applying for a job at a major research university and especially a program with top faculty. Its not just what the advisor says but who the advisor is (but what they say is also important). If you are applying to a top program and they don't know who your advisors are, good luck. I uniquely strong letter from a very well respected advisor can get you many jobs.
for Non-Academic careers, I have no idea.
Good advice from Middle Professor.
For non-academic careers, I would look carefully at the cost-benefit of even going to grad school. My current job doesn't really use or require my graduate degree- someone with a bachelor's in my field could do this job easily. As such, I often think about the years of lost wages in grad school to get the same job I was qualified to get after my bachelor's degree.
That said, in this economy, maybe it helps to be overqualified, and after (if?) the economy improves, I thik I will be well positioned to take a better job.
There are non-monetary concerns as well. There is a certain sense of accomplishment from having finished a graduate degree- you'll have to decide how much you value that.