<p>I have applied to a very small number of programs for biological anthropology. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. </p>
<p>I met with a potential grad advisor at one of these programs and we instantly clicked. I really enjoy and admire the work she does, she has been trained by some of the best paleoanthropologists in the world, and she does a lot of interdisciplinary work with the biology department. Her interests perfectly mirror mine and I just plain like her as a person. I like the amount of diversity at the college and the opportunities to help educate underrepresented groups, I like the affordability of the school, I like that I have the opportunity for funding and a TA position, I like the location, and I like that this department would allow me a good deal of freedom to design and manage my own projects. </p>
<p>The problem is that this particular professor is the only one in the anthropology department who does biological anthropology. Although most anthropology departments are multi-disciplinary and I would enjoy being able to call upon help from cultural anthro and archaeology, I have heard that you should not choose a department that only has one professor in your intended sub-discipline. At the same time, I would be able to use resources from the biology department as well. How much should I worry about this?</p>
<p>Additionally, although the school is known for being a research institution and I constantly see good and interesting research coming from their science and social science departments, the school is not very highly ranked. How much does this matter? </p>
<p>In summary: If the fit feels right and the funding is there, does reputation matter?</p>
<p>Note: I am not a superstar student. I'm slightly above average. There is no way I'm getting into a top ranking program. But I am serious about my education and would like to know how much the program I go to will affect my future.</p>
<p>School rankings are almost completely pointless, program rankings may play an important role in some fields but aren’t an end-all in themselves, your advisor’s reputation and quality of work is hugely important. I wouldn’t be worried at all about school/program rank if your potential advisor is well-respected in the field.</p>
<p>You really do need to think long and hard about having a single potential advisor, though. Normally you absolutely do NOT want to do that. Anything can happen during grad school - I got on famously with my first advisor who was regularly publishing in Nature… until she had a mental breakdown and left academia for awhile. I specifically chose my program because there were a plethora of faculty I’d be happy to work with, and clearly that was a smart thing to do. On the other hand, my boyfriend was in a similar boat as you, there was really only 1 school in the area that made sense for him, and their program is completely inflexible about switching advisors. He’s now working with an advisor who originally appeared lovely and promised him a project he proposed… which she gave to another student a few months in, leaving him to do a project he absolutely hates on an insane timeline because she doesn’t seem to understand that graduate students need more time than middle-career faculty. I would recommend only attending if you have at LEAST 1 fall back advisor. Grad school is rough.</p>
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<li>You should worry about it quite a bit. Professors leave departments all the time, regardless of whether they are tenured or not. They die or get sick, of course; but occasionally they leave for other universities, or they leave academia all together. Also, even if she doesn’t leave, sometimes advisor relationships simply don’t work out. She could be a completely lovely person who is also a workaholic and demands 80 hour workweeks from you when you really just want 50-60; or she could be changing research interests midstream and end up working on something you find completely boring; or she could seem nice on the outside but is just a really difficult person to work with; or she could have life changes in personal life and end up struggling and thus changing in her attitude towards you. Or perhaps she hits a snag in her research and has a hard time keeping her lab funded at a certain points. There are just so many THINGS that can happen.</li>
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<p>It’d be different if there were 3 professors in biological anthro but only one of them had work that really, really clicked with you; you could get supervision from one of the other 2 if something didn’t work out But If there’s only one biological anthropologist at all in the whole department? This may not be a situation you want to get into. You can’t rely on using resources from another department; likely, those professors cannot serve as your official advisor, the sponsor or chair for your dissertation, and you really need and want an advisor who has connections in your own field and thus can write you recommendations, introduce you to people, make phone calls on your behalf. I’d have a frank conversation with her about your concern.</p>
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<li>It does and it doesn’t. It really depends on your field, the reputation of your advisor, and the program itself. You can go to a mid-ranked university with a top-ranked department (like Rutgers’ philosophy department, consistently ranked in the top 2). There are top-ranked universities with mediocre programs in certain fields. And sometimes you can be in a department that’s mid-ranked in your field, but you’re working with the top scholar in your subfield or someone who is just a very good fit for you.</li>
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<p>But it really depends on what you wanted to do. If you want to stay in academia, your advisor and program will matter more than your university. But if you wanted to go work for a nonprofit, a think tank, a government agency, an NGO…those jobs’ employers are going to be a bit less familiar with the top names in your specific subfield, and then the reputation of your university does matter quite a bit.</p>