Assistant professors at higher ranked vs lower ranked universities

boneh3ad
Wed, 28 Aug 2013 20:52:29 +0000

I agree with a lot of what has been said here, but I think you guys are assuming a much larger difference in initial qualifications between an assistant professor at a tier 1 research university and one at a tier 2 research university. The academic job market is absolutely cutthroat. There are so few jobs for so many applicants that even the lower tier jobs are still filled with a lot of people coming from top tier universities with impressive pedigrees. Often the difference is fairly slight and may just be the quality of the journals a give candidate publishes in or the person who advised them on their PhD.

That said, for all the reasons discussed above, the new professors at the top tier universities generally have an easier time ramping up their research program and making a name for themselves, especially due to the effect of the higher average quality of graduate students. A professor at Caltech or MIT can be pretty sure that no matter who they take on as a student, they will be a top-performing student at their previous school. A professor at a lower tier school has to be a bit more choosy with their selection of students. This is all in general, of course. There are exceptions.