<p>So everyone posting seems to be aiming high for schools, top 10, top 20, top whatever. Is it really that big deal?</p>
<p>I mean, why are y'all (seemingly) placing so much emphasis on big name schools? Is it that you get a better education there? Are you more likely to get a faculty position coming out of a top tier place? Is it for the ego boost ("I went to Harvard!")? Networking opportunities? Better funding there? Some of the above? </p>
<p>I'm in the process of deciding where to apply, and don't get me wrong, I'll probably apply to a few bigwigs. I'm looking at either genomics or proteomics, so MIT and Hopkins are on my list, but so are schools like Virginia Tech and U. Miami. What's the rationale for picking MIT over VT? Is reputation a proxy for something more important, or is it mostly bragging rights?</p>
<p>This obviously depends on each applicant; I’d guess all the reasons you gave are valid to some degree or at least perceived to be valid. </p>
<p>My main reason to apply and go to the top places was that the top people in my subfield happened to be at Harvard, Stanford and Berkeley. That’s obviously different from field to field however, and you seem certainly on the right track.</p>
<p>I did undergrad at a top school and am doing graduate work at a university that is, well, definitely not a top university.</p>
<p>The advantages
[ul][<em>]Academically, the program is very strong. Only Chicago is better in the western hemisphere.
[</em>]Good fit with faculty interests.
[li]Students in the program are all top-notch.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>The disadvantages
[ul][<em>]Library resources are pretty abysmal.
[</em>]Funding is not very good (think $7-10K yearly stipends…).
[<em>]The undergraduates I work with are mostly lazy and unmotivated.
[</em>]TAs are expected to grade starting year 1 and teach starting year 2.[/ul]</p>
<p>For me, the advantages mostly outweighed the disadvantages, but that is not true for a good many applicants. </p>
<p>On a practical note, I only applied to top universities (except my current one) because those are the only universities to even offer my program. Brown, Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Penn, Penn State, UCLA, Yale – that’s about it.</p>
<p>Personally for me (well my field I guess), the top schools usually have better funding and facilities, and they definitely have better networking opportunities. Being around top-notch students will motivate me to do my best as well.</p>
<p>I’m a doctoral student at Columbia. It’s one of the top 10-20 schools in both of the fields I’m in for my interdisciplinary PhD.</p>
<p>I thought I would get a great education here, what with the top researchers in my field at this university and particularly the concentration in my field of study. More importantly, I think it’s preparation for a great career both in and out of academia. In academia, my program is recognized as a top program and I’m working with some of the most prominent researchers in my field - people who know people at other schools and who can introduce me to and network me with other people I want to know. I’ve looked at the big-name post-doctoral fellowships in my field and realized that most of their fellows come from the top programs. And since if I stay in academia I’m aiming for the elite private LACs, this positioning is beneficial. Schools like Amherst, Swarthmore and Wellesley like to have a professor with a degree from Columbia. Big name graduate school can lead to big name post-doc can lead to ideal position. It’s the wisdom in academia that you will probably teach at a place a tier below where you actually went to school, so Columbia opens up a lot of tiers.</p>
<p>Outside of academia, where I am also looking, not only is my program recognized as a top program within my broad field - the name recognition my university possesses is great for a lot of government, military, and private industry jobs that I’m looking at. I’ve been thinking about management consulting and the top firms come recruit at my school - both the undergrads and the grad students. One time I went to a graduation ceremony for my fiance, who’s military, and a colonel was there. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was getting my PhD at Columbia. He was so impressed, he spread it around the squadron! This is a colonel with a long and distinguished military career - the kind of person who has some institutional power should I decide to apply for military research positions. If I could impress him, who has seen a lot, just from getting a PhD at Columbia…?</p>
<p>Ego boost is secondary. Like I didn’t come here because of the ego boost but it is a nice byproduct of the experience. People are genuinely impressed when you say you are getting a PhD from Columbia. It changes people’s perceptions of you ever so slightly, in a very good way. As for funding - well, that really depends on the program and not necessarily the university. Columbia’s Arts and Sciences disciplines have some of the best funding in the country, partially because the school is in New York and they know the eye-rolling that would occur should they try to give us a rural county stipend in New York. (Let’s put it this way: I had to take a small pay cut to take my NSF.) The funding varies in the other programs.</p>