Assistant professors at higher ranked vs lower ranked universities

ClassicRockerDad
Wed, 28 Aug 2013 19:27:51 +0000

As you might imagine, a place like Princeton can pretty much pick and choose who they want from tons of amazing candidates. They can be assured of getting terrific PhD students who will multiply the research they will become responsible for.

Texas Tech might not be as desirable destination. They don’t get the same quality of PhD student, and therefore the professor won’t be able to produce as much innovative and high quality research.

It’s really hard to get a position at a top research university, and many people who do work 85-90 hours a week for 7 years in hopes of getting tenure. After that many still work very long hours just because that’s what they need to do to remain competitive. If you work at a top research university, and don’t get tenure, it is still quite possible that you can obtain a nice tenured position at a lower ranked school. These people are effectively running their own businesses.

If you don’t get tenure at a lower ranked school, your academic career is probably over. Fortunately, these people can often find good positions in industry.