<p>say, the general observation (for most people) is that they might go to tier N school for grad school, and then (IF) they get a faculty position, then pretty much get one at a tier N-1 school.</p>
<p>does this trend also hold for postdocs though? I know some professors who went to grad school in a not-very-prestigious school, and then did a postdoc at Princeton and then got a faculty position at a school that's borderline Tier 1-Tier 2. does it sometimes occur that people get into more prestigious schools as postdocs? or is this the exception to the rule?</p>
<p>A postdoc is essentially a continuation of your previous underpaid graduate level slave-labor. Provided your experience and recommendations are solid, you may very well be offered a position in the lab of Dr. Famous at Big-Name-Institute even though you come from the working group of Dr. Not-so-Famous at Never-Heard-of-it-U. Especially if Dr. Not-so-Famous is an old student or professional crony of Dr. Famous.</p>
<p>Yeah, in general you want to keep moving up for your postdoc. Keep in mind school prestige isn’t too important for graduate students compared to program and lab prestige; for postdocs, lab and PI prestige is everything. Princeton sounds good, but if there’s a better lab at Good State U, that’s even better for postdoc.</p>