PhD Program Rankings and Employment

Friends, there's a ugly truth profs don't like to talk about. Unless you graduate from a top program, your chances of finding decent, tenure-track job may be very slim. Here's a hypothesis, which tends to be significant at alpha = 0.05

H1: Students from top schools end up getting jobs at second-tier schools; Students from second-tier schools end up adjuncts or simply unemployed

Don't believe this? Read "Professor of Desperation" (see the "References" section to the right)

I was once shocked when I visited an online forum for PhD students in economics. Kids from top schools were praying to land a job at the University Middle of Nowhere.

So if you have scholarly ambitions, you shouldn't even bother applying to mid-level schools and below. Getting rejected by top schools and not going to academia may be your ticket to a much happier life. The only people who should consider attending a PhD program in a second-tier school are retired and financially secure folks who just want something to do between now and their death.