<p>This is sort of the same problem that I’m facing, I could either go to a school that is generally more prestigious or I could go to a school that is ranked on the USNWR as a best school for my field. I have spoken to my professors about it and they seem to think that going with the ranked one would be better. It is unfortunate but those rankings DO matter, and they can matter a lot to the person who is hiring you if they don’t have any other indication of the quality of program that you came from. I’ve been told that if you are going to try to get a job outside of academia then go with the school that is more generally known for prestige, but part of the prestige comes from the rankings so I think you can’t consider one without the other. It’s very confusing and I’m not sure what I’m going to do.
School A is ranked higher than School B on the overall rankings, yet School B is listed as one of the best for my field and School A isn’t even on that list. I just want to go to the one that will give me the best chance at a job when I graduate (not in academia), so for now I am stumped.</p>
<p>Is there a large private sector that would be hiring within that subfield for research positions? They would likely know which schools are strong in that subfield and/or professors who put out good students.</p>
<p>For example, a PhD in Microbiology has many more non-academia jobs available within their subfield than, say, Medieval Studies.</p>