<p>Also, don't forget that not all profs in the best departments are world-renowned. Tenured full professors with awesome research accomplishments can place their students through connections and reputation; assistant professors, not so much. Different research groups can be more or less innovative or rigorous, as can thesis projects. Your prof might have done poorly compared to other Yale genetics grads in terms of publications and accomplishments. All of that would affect her ability to get a good t-t post.</p>
<p>Also, some profs at Yale genetics do not have PhDs (because it's a med school dept.), and there is a certain reputation associated with MD-only PIs that might make it difficult for their grads to find "basic science" research posts.</p>
<p>Did your prof do a postdoc? Where? If a student postdocs in a less prestigious lab or isn't productive enough, this could negate a good doctoral experience.</p>
<p>Also, consider that there is a great deal of pressure on the starting assistant professor at a top university to produce publications, funding, and results. Not all professors get tenured.</p>
<p>On the opposite end, a prestigious postdoc position can help you land a position at a top tier university. </p>
<p>I personally don't see the utility of postdoc positions, or the attractiveness of staying couched in academia for the rest of my life. I guess one thing I wouldn't mind is keeping the flexible lifestyle of a grad student. I really can't imagine academia being the first choice for people in fields like engineering (EECS,ChemE,MatSci,Mech,Civ, etc etc) whose work and skills should be predominantly in industrial techonology or govenment, not babying 22 year olds.</p>
<p>I apologize if I offended the wannabe professors of the future. sorry.</p>
<p>Many professors have aspirations that trump teaching in a "top" program. For instance, they may wish to teach in the same place as their significant other. They may desire to live near aging parents / family. They may be inveterate surfers, and NEED to live in Hawaii. They may prefer teaching in an undergrad-only environment, like a LAC. Etc. etc. etc.</p>
<p>In addition, many "top" programs simply do not tenure the vast majority of their assistant professors, so taking a first job at such a program will most often lead to being back on the job market after only a few short years. While some professors take these "top" (but tenure-unlikely) positions intending to use them as a springboard toward other positions, others avoid them like the plague, since they'd prefer a greater chance at job security, and the ability to put down roots.</p>
<p>(Ah, youth, to even have to ask a question like this!)</p>
<p>And might I recommend a most entertaining and informative book on the subject of professorship: "Academic gamesmanship: how to make a Ph.D. pay" by Pierre L Van den Berghe.</p>
<p>JMilton90: actually, I'm in engineering and I'd much prefer staying in the academia than going into industry. I feel deeply insulted.
( well, not really :P )</p>
<p>Just curious - would you say the same type of selection (i.e. lots of qualified candidates, hard to pick the "winner") occurs for grad school programs too?</p>
<p>my 2 cent on biomedical fields in top research universities. i think the most important qualification is ability to sustain a high profile research. usually when a new assistant professor starts, he/she will receive a startup package from the school, and that usually can last the young PI for a couple of years. if the young PI fails to get a government grant such as NIH R01 grant, the PI is forced to live off "hard money" from the university and his/her research is essentially crippled. this is the situation everybody wants to avoid. so most searching committees look closely on applicants' hierarchy: who were his/her mentors? what is his/her expertise? and most importantly, does his/her research have a good chance to be funded? so the mentor plays an enormous role in this process. if the mentor has good track records of training well funded researchers and coupled with own strong expertise, he/she is in a very good shape. so i would say that a good mentor is the most important thing to consider if you decide to persuade a career in academia. incidentally, good professors are usually in elite universities, so attending a top rated school definitely makes life a little easier (stead of maybe 40 students to 1 good professor, there may be 5 students per 1 good prof in top universities). but keep in mind that people from small schools do rise to the top.</p>