• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

School Advice-Do school rankings really matter?

EMY

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Messages
258
Reaction score
2
Do a few rankings up or down really matter if you are not in the top 5? Would people who are hiring/matter look at the overall ranking or ranking in your specific field? How is Columbia engineering generally perceived compared to say, UCLA, USC, UCSD, UPenn? This is for their grad programs.
 

JayJay

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
24,297
Reaction score
439
Originally Posted by EMY
Do a few rankings up or down really matter if you are not in the top 5?
To many recruiters, yes.
 

ramuman

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
4,615
Reaction score
710
For grad school, I don't think any of those schools would be considered top 5 for overall engineering - actually, none of those are even remotely close.
 

Coors Light

Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
depends what you want to do..

Be recruited on the national level or apply locally.
 

medtech_expat

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2006
Messages
1,084
Reaction score
218
All things being equal, a top 5 or 10 grad school will typically get you easier access to the plum companies/jobs. Importantly, you'll probably start your career with a higher salary and hence steeper earnings trajectory. So early in your career, your school does have an impact. IMO, a few years post grad school your alma mater doesn't appear to matter much except to degree snobs. All about performance, potential and network.
 

indesertum

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Jun 7, 2007
Messages
17,396
Reaction score
3,888
^+1 many times

a material science phd student told me how the shittiest phd students still get jobs at intel just because they're from the mat sci phd program here.

i know earnst and young, ubs, shell, johnson and johnson, etc hire almost exclusively from a select few schools including mine, but after that it's all up to you
 

Texasmade

Stylish Dinosaur
Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2008
Messages
28,345
Reaction score
37,204
Originally Posted by indesertum
^+1 many times

a material science phd student told me how the shittiest phd students still get jobs at intel just because they're from the mat sci phd program here.

i know earnst and young, ubs, shell, johnson and johnson, etc hire almost exclusively from a select few schools including mine, but after that it's all up to you


Ernst and Young hires from a bunch of schools. In an organziation of 20,000+ inthe US with like 16,000+ client service professionals, they can't be too exclusive.
 

EMY

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Messages
258
Reaction score
2
Originally Posted by ramuman
For grad school, I don't think any of those schools would be considered top 5 for overall engineering - actually, none of those are even remotely close.

That was exactly my point. Columbia is obviously the highest ranked overall (4th) and generally has the highest impact. USC (10), UCSD(13), UCLA(15) are all higher ranked than Columbia(18) in engineering, but none of them "sound" as impressive. For my type of engineering Penn (16), UCLA(23), USC/Columbia(36), UCSD(52).

My dilemma is whether to choose the school with the biggest name, best in engineering or best in my discipline of engineering. I am not sure sure whether I want to apply on a national or local scale.
 

JayJay

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
24,297
Reaction score
439
Originally Posted by EMY
That was exactly my point. Columbia is obviously the highest ranked overall (4th) and generally has the highest impact. USC (10), UCSD(13), UCLA(15) are all higher ranked than Columbia(18) in engineering, but none of them "sound" as impressive. For my type of engineering Penn (16), UCLA(23), USC/Columbia(36), UCSD(52).

My dilemma is whether to choose the school with the biggest name, best in engineering or best in my discipline of engineering. I am not sure sure whether I want to apply on a national or local scale.

I'd select the best in your discipline of engineering on a national scale.
 

ramuman

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
4,615
Reaction score
710
Originally Posted by JayJay
I'd select the best in your discipline of engineering on a national scale.
Originally Posted by medtech_expat
+1
I second (third) this. Incidentally, I was also accepted into Columbia for engineering grad school and I seriously considered it because I had thoughts at the time of also pursuing an MBA or JD in parallel with my Ph.D. I ended up choosing Georgia Tech because it was ranked higher overall in engineering and my focus (ECE/BME). I took it seriously for 4 years and ended up with a job in line with what I could have expected with a dual Ph.D/MBA and a much better technical background because of the resources here. Tech was the highest ranked engineering school that did spring admissions at the time and it ended up being one of the best decisions I've made. Short answer: Go with the better engineering school - but in grad school make sure you also have a great fit with your advisor, especially if you're doing a Ph.D. That alone could make or break your experience. I was fortunate enough to have one of the classiest people as mine.
 

EMY

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Messages
258
Reaction score
2
Thanks for the responses.

R- While you were getting your PhD, did you work extensively with professors from other departments or was your advisor in 2 different departments? The reason I ask is that many of chemical engineering professors at my list of schools are also chemistry or biomedical engineering professors and those programs are top 10.
 

Milpool

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2010
Messages
900
Reaction score
0
This is always an interesting debate. Often, giant state schools have great rankings in sciences due to their size and such, yet on overall scores, they are nowhere near the top.

So if you are dealing with recruiters that don't know better, they will likely think Ivy is better than State due to overall ranking (probably at the undergrad level) rather than knowing that for discipline xyz, State is top 5 vs Ivy not in the running.

In short, I don't have a good answer for you.
 

ramuman

Distinguished Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
4,615
Reaction score
710
Originally Posted by EMY
Thanks for the responses. R- While you were getting your PhD, did you work extensively with professors from other departments or was your advisor in 2 different departments? The reason I ask is that many of chemical engineering professors at my list of schools are also chemistry or biomedical engineering professors and those programs are top 10.
My advisor and co-advisor are in two separate departments (ECE and Biology). Neither held a formal position in the other department when I started. I would place more stock in an advisor's primary department than what other departments they're a part of. It's easy to become adjunct faculty in a department, but that doesn't necessarily mean much by itself. On balance, I would say that you should pick an advisor who primarily works in the department you want to and does research you want to do. Personality fit is a huge (did I say huge) factor that you should consider as well. If you're a free spirit that likes to read about a million things and doesn't want to be in the lab six days a week, but when you do come in, you do some creative things and your advisor wants you to knock out incremental research and lots of publications, then you likely won't be a mutual fit - and vice versa. Everyone goes in to a Ph.D thinking they're going to change the world, but at the end of it, all you've really changed is yourself. Make sure you pick a path that allows you to change for the better. You're locking in potentially the most formative years of your life. Don't waste that time and good luck with the path you pick.
smile.gif
 

JayJay

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
24,297
Reaction score
439
If the OP is pursuing a Ph.D, then the quality of the doctoral program for his discipline is most important. The overall ranking of the school won't matter as much when it comes to getting a job, especially one in a university.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,182
Messages
10,579,221
Members
223,890
Latest member
MakersGumy
Top