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[runningthegoodrace]

I am currently in the process of choosing a school. My potential options are between the 15-50 range in US News Rankings. Placement-wise, the rankings fall within the 8-25 range. Two of the departments also have large faculty/graduate student populations in my subfield. Any advice is welcome. I can give more details if needed.

[helpful]

Choosing a school for a masters program or a phd program?

In my humble opinion, the important reasons to choose a grad school consist of, do I want to live in that place for the next x years; are there professors I am interested in working with; are their courses that interest me; have they graduated interesting scholars.

Rankings are useful, but not as important as how you measure your own responses to the above questions.

The above is for doctoral programs. For masters programs, you can be a bit less picky. What courses you have to take will be a factor, as well as who the professors are that you want to work with.

[runningthegoodrace]

This is for a PhD program. I am choosing between two programs with many faculty in my area of interest. Funding at one is not guaranteed for all years; at the other I have guaranteed funding. Both are rather desireable places to live.

[yemaya]

This is for a PhD program. I am choosing between two programs with many faculty in my area of interest. Funding at one is not guaranteed for all years; at the other I have guaranteed funding. Both are rather desireable places to live.

If both places have faculty you are excited to work with and are desireable places to live, I'd go for the one with more funding.  You are probably looking at 6 or more years (depending on your field).  PhD work at a respectable program is stressful enough without having to constantly worry where next year's funding is coming from.  Not only that, but if you're in a place where you have to fight for funding from one year to the next, it can sometimes bring out some really cuthroat, nasty behavior among the cohort.

[the_walrus]

Follow the money.

[zharkov]

The various scholarly and professional associations periodically publish rankings.  A university as a whole may be highly ranked, but have a middling PhD program in your field, and vice versa. Your undergrad advisor, people in your current department, and/or fellow students can likely point you in the direction of program rankings.

IMHO, it is better to go to one of the top 20ish to 30ish programs if at all possible in any field. Call this upper tier "the Club."  The Club hires graduates of its members to teach in their schools. Brown and Stanford, say, aren't about to hire someone with a PhD from Upper Central State University, unless that person is a true superstar. So if your goal is to work in one of the top 20 or 30 schools in your field, you need to attend one of these school's PhD programs. It all depends on your ambitions.

It also depends on field.  You can get a well paying job as a prof with a PhD in accounting from any school because the demand is so high. If you are in the humanities, then I suggest that rankings become all the more important.
   

[imawakenow]

I like zharkov's advice, but it might help to know the field even broadly (humanities, social science, hard sciences, etc.).

Some fields are completely saturated right now, while others are only completely wet. (And then there's accounting...)

In general, though, I wouldn't pay for a Ph.D.

I would also check on how your likely advisers do in placing their advisees. You might have a star or rising star adviser who places all (or nearly all) of his/her grad students at the department without guaranteed funding. This might tip me toward attending that school.

[helpful]

This is for a PhD program. I am choosing between two programs with many faculty in my area of interest. Funding at one is not guaranteed for all years; at the other I have guaranteed funding. Both are rather desireable places to live.

Take the one with funding, provided the courses and faculty members to work with interest you.

I wouldn't go to a place with funding if the course work and professors are not suitable. Don't forget, this is a place you want to enjoy working at and learning from. Sure funding is wonderful, but what is more important is your own learning and engagement.

[runningthegoodrace]

Thank you for all of the advice. I am leaning toward the funding, especially in light of its placement record, which appears very strong, and its faculty, which has a high concentration in my area.

Some further info. I am in the social sciences. I have also been waitlisted, both officially and unofficially, at several other schools--all of which have significantly less faculty in my area of interest. One of these schools is ranked by US News about 10 spots higher (around 20) than the school I am considering, but the faculty base is small in my field. Another school is an Ivy but has a lower ranking, around 40ish in US News.

I want to go to the best place possible--the place that provides me with the most opportunities for employment at a good university (though not necessarily an R-1 institution). I am confused about which "rankings" to reference since US News does not really measure placement.

I may be omitting some info here, so ask if you need more to provide some advice.

[philoctetes]

Look at who the people in your field you want to emulate. Look at where the faculty in the top twenty schools went.  Rankings change over time, but not exceedingly quickly.  Note that you may not dream of being a faculty member at a top school, but the fact is the better the reputation of you PhD school the more choice you will have when you do hit the market.

As for money. It is not wise to go where you will get them most funding, go to the best place that gives you enough funding. Remember a PhD that won't get you the job you want is a waste of 4-10 years of your life, and a few thousand more a year won't make it worth it.

 

[zharkov]

One of these schools is ranked by US News about 10 spots higher (around 20) than the school I am considering, but the faculty base is small in my field. Another school is an Ivy but has a lower ranking, around 40ish in US News.

US News is OK-ish, but your really want to see what your scholarly or professional association has to say about rankings.  If you social sci is econ, then the AEA or one of its pubs will have something.