If you do a PhD at a 'not-so-good-uni' is it bad for employabilty?

So I was looking into doing a PhD at a not-so-good-uni simply because it is more likely for me to get on the program... Does this ruin my job prospects?

I won't name the uni, i'm thinking of
But I'm doing a Maths undergrade degree at Warwick, thinking about doing a Physics postgrad! Thanks!

Reply 1

MonteCristo

14

What do you want to use the PhD for? If you want to become an academic then the university your PhD is from is much less important than your supervisor and how much you publish. You should ideally identify a supervisor and determine how good they are (approachable? supportive?), how many of their PhD students complete within a reasonable time frame (3-4 years), and how often they publish with their students. Having said that, you'll find that it's the research-intensive universities (often those higher in the league tables) that can provide this environment.

If you don't want to be an academic, do you really need a PhD?

Reply 2

Nathanielle

15

A PHD is often still only done by a minority, hence university matters less. In addition you get spezialized in a very narrow field, which diminish competition again. There will be some companies, for which university matters more than, what you have done (though it often just means, you are more likely to jump the first hurdle with the "right uni"), but for a lot what you have done is the entry ticket. Example: A company searches a Math/Physics/Whatever PHD, preferably with good programming skills, because that will mean the training period for that non-academic job is shorter. Hence a purely theoretical PHD from the best Uni won't really help, a PHD with shows you have great experience with programming will use the company more.

Reply 3

somethingbeautiful

18

Original post by MonteCristo

What do you want to use the PhD for? If you want to become an academic then the university your PhD is from is much less important than your supervisor and how much you publish. You should ideally identify a supervisor and determine how good they are (approachable? supportive?), how many of their PhD students complete within a reasonable time frame (3-4 years), and how often they publish with their students. Having said that, you'll find that it's the research-intensive universities (often those higher in the league tables) that can provide this environment.

If you don't want to be an academic, do you really need a PhD?

This.

OP you need to be more concerned about what your intentions are for after the PhD than the uni that you study it at.

If you do a PhD at a 'not-so-good-uni' is it bad for employabilty?

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