/sci/ - Science & Math

for undergrad it's largely irrelevant unless you're going into a field like investment banking or something that essentially requires you to go to a very prestigious school for anyone to give a shit about you.

from my perspective I'm going to grad school next fall to go for a PhD in an engineering field. I've discussed this with a number of faculty members (all from prestigious unis) and it's a fact that national laboratories and such will especially cater their recruitment efforts towards grads from top 10 schools, and there are many other special career opportunities that come from being in that echelon.

the other thing you must understand is how the rankings are formulated. according to what I was told after asking this same question to profs, large chunks of the ratings come from the number of PhD students, number of publications, and the amount of funding the departments of the schools get or produce. none of that has anything to do with undergrad activity, so for STEM the rankings are meaningless for them. on the other hand, this is far more important for people seeking to go to graduate school because the rankings will be related to the amount of funding available to them.

personally I'm stuck in a rather precarious situation right now that I'm still trying to weigh out. I can stay at Shit State U (ranked in the top 70) with a fellowship working under the best advisor I can possibly ask for with a sick-ass project, or go to a top 10 school also completely covered via an RA under a meh professor with a not as interesting project. Shit State U will better prepare me with the specific experience I need for the career I want to go into, but the top 10 has the name recognition that will open a lot of doors for me at the cost of that. the profs at both schools have a lot of connections, but the one at Shit State U will give 100% god-tier recommendations for me in the future. tough choice and I have less than a month at this point to decide.