<p>I’d argue that if you received your PhD from a mid-tier program, chances are you aren’t going to find a faculty position at all, and if you do it will be at a lower-tier program. As you and I have already alluded to, there just aren’t many faculty positions available. PhD graduates from top-tier schools looking for faculty positions (generally) take them at the top-tier schools and at the middle-tier schools, taking up slots that might have been filled by middle-tier graduates. These are then relegated to look even lower down the totem pole of there are even any jobs still available.</p>
<p>I think the fundamental flaw in the logic here is that your conclusion depends on the assertion that the PhD graduates in question will only accept a job at an upper-tier university or else they would rather go into industry. Most people who are vying for faculty jobs seem to be quite gung ho about staying on the academic path and are generally willing to work at, say, at least one tier lower than the university they attended just to get that first faculty job. Prospective faculty generally realize that they can take a job even at a lower tier than their PhD and still do what they want, that is set up a research program investigating problems that interest them the most as long as they can convince someone to pay for it.</p>
<p>For that reason, the percentage of faculty from top programs in a field is not nearly as variable across the tiers as 93tiger16 seems to imply, though I doubt it is constant as implied by DoubleD. The top tiers certainly don’t have enough openings to accommodate all of their own graduates, but the top tier combined with the lower tiers certainly have more openings than the top tier graduates can fill, so the rate likely isn’t quite the same. It isn’t like night and day though as some would apply. You still see lots of professors from the top schools even at the lower tier schools.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t read too much into assistant professorships. A lot is dependent on the job market. Advisor connections do count a lot but if there are no jobs at top tier schools, students will go to second tier for assistant professorships.</p>
<p>Many move onto other schools without any problems.</p>
<p>Boneh3ad, I didn’t disagree with you. Not an iota. You misunderstood what I said. I said going from a top tier to a low (not lower), but low tier school - from MIT to Mankato State, would be too much to take both in pay and intellectual satisfaction. I can’t see wanting a faculty position THAT badly when there is so much money and intellectual satisfaction to be had in industry.</p>
<p>CRD, I know this is just anecdotal data, but I’m aware of a number of people in my lab that have done exactly that due to their own family constraints. One advantage they do retain over some of their colleagues is they can maintain connections to their top tier lab, and, if the lab’s willing, can still collaborate and share students, equipment, and facilities for their research. One of my best mentors is a PhD who graduated ~15 years ago from my program and is a professor at a school which is hardly ever mentioned on CC.</p>
<p>Otherwise I mostly agree with bonehead, and I’m annoyed because I didn’t see there was a second page until I had typed up my reply, lol.</p>
<p>Racin, I’ve known a few people who went back to teach in their home countries for family reasons and ultimately couldn’t stand being away from the cutting edge, and they were paid poorly. After agonizing and wanting the life they knew they could attain, they moved back to the USA and have had storybook careers in industry, and their children are now as American as anyone. We start with family ties to our parents and end with family ties to children.</p>
This still does not quite argue for an equal percentage distribution of top-tier-educated professors across all universities. I think ClassicRockerDad has the right idea. Top-tier graduates usually want to teach at those top-tier universities. There, they have better access to resources, funding, and better quality students. Those top-tier universities, such as my own, tend to have a habit of hiring tenure-track assistant professors from those top-tier universities. As I have said, I have observed a very high concentration of professors from top-tier universities at my school. Sure, top-tier graduates go to lower-tier programs because there obviously aren’t enough jobs at top-tier programs for all of them, but your model would still envision somewhat of a top-down filling model. Top-tier graduates would fill jobs at the top first, leading to a very high concentration of those graduates at top-tier universities as I observe, and then fill the lower-tier jobs. Therefore, top-tier graduates at lower-tier universities is nowhere near as pervasive. </p>
<p>Additionally, top-tier graduates generally want to remain at top-tier universities because of their chances at greater prestige and greater salary. The top ten highest paid professorships are all at top-tier universities. Sure, lower-tier grads want those jobs too, but they are not as competitive as top-tier grads. Top-tier grads have had access to the best resources, the best advisers, and a lot of funding to produce their resource. Presumably, that research would then be of higher quality and be published in top journals, leading to increased number of citations. This, coupled with their connections, puts top-tier grads in a very good position to be selected for those top-tier jobs. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that top-tier grads don’t go to lower-tier universities. They do so after those top-tier jobs are filled. I am saying that equal percentages of top-tier grads at all universities is untrue and unsubstantiated.</p>