<p>You would be less “cool” if you went to Duke for 8 years instead of 4 in the arts/history departments? For a physical science student, I almost laughed out loud.</p>
<p>In engineering, just in one specialized department, I know some pretty cool and successful faculty who did ug/grad from the same institution… let me look up where they’re from… hold on.</p>
<p>UIUC, Cal, UCSB, Stanford, UMelbourne, UChicago, UDel… </p>
<p>Anyways, after skimming through their profiles, these people are, I’d say pretty worldly. Many have international appointments in teaching and consulting. I didn’t really look at the history department. But from what I’ve been reading on this thread, seems as though they are more prone to biasing the few who got their degrees from the same institution. I’m not part of any admissions faculty, but if I were I’d be open to anyone as long the candidate has demonstrated their expertise.</p>
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<p>So I guess what you’re saying is that bigger population of alums = connections = better chance for hire. I think you’re right. But I think at the PhD level, it’s more like more conferences/papers/interdisplinary research = connections = better chance for hire. I’m a grad student and that’s about how I feel (different ug/g btw). If you have been accepted at various places, I think it’s a personal choice. For whatever reason, go to the institution that you think you’re the best fit (even if it is the same as your undergrad).</p>