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<p>If that’s true, then that only further strengthens my point. If having even a Harvard or MIT brand name does indeed fail to provide much of a benefit over another top 10-15 program in obtaining a particular ‘desired’ industry research job (I don’t know if that’s true, but let’s go with it), then a restatement of that is that every PhD grad from a top 10-15 program (including Harvard/MIT) is roughly equally as likely to be forced to take an undesirable industry research job should they want to be in industry. </p>
<p>However, the PhD grads from Harvard/MIT (and probably a handful of other well-branded schools such as Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and the like) have the alternative option of heading to venture capital, private equity, or strategy consulting. The PhD graduate from Scripps (a top 10 bio and chemistry program) doesn’t really have that option. Given the choice between a job in venture capital vs. an undesirable industry research job (that is undesirable because it pays poorly, is in a locale that you or your spouse dislikes, doesn’t conduct the type of research that you like, or anything else), many people will surely choose the former. </p>
<p>Again, the bottom line is that the well-branded and heavily networked university gives you options, and those options lower your risk profile. Not everybody will obtain the research job that they desire, and it behooves you to consider what other careers you can obtain with your degree. Moreover, a significant percentage of PhD students won’t even finish the PhD at all, which renders concerns about what you can do with the terminal master’s (or no degree at all, but mere ‘matriculation’ status) all the more important. A terminal master’s, or even mere matriculation, at Harvard, can be leveraged to alternative careers in a way that a terminal master’s from Scripps cannot. </p>
<p>I would agree that if PhD programs - whether Harvard, MIT, or anybody else - could guarantee you would obtain a desirable job (whether in industry, academia, or elsewhere) upon graduation, then issues of branding would be moot. But nobody can guarantee that. The risk is borne entirely on the shoulders of the student. Hence, it is entirely rational for that student to take steps to mitigate that risk by expanding his career options.</p>