School's prestige / Publication / PI - to be a professor?

splenium
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:41:52 +0000

I agree that the prestige of the school is not very important. The prestige of the program (especially in your particular subfield) might be, however. Top programs tend to have top students, top postdocs, and also are more likely to have other top labs to collaborate with, either formally or informally. You will learn most from your own PI and your own lab, but you will also learn from your surrounding community. I think a good general rule is to pick a program where there are at least three labs you would be interested in working in. This is important in case your top choice lab becomes not an option for whatever reason, but also because having the other labs around will enhance your experience and your education, and also potentially provide important thesis committee members, LORs, etc.