Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mitel!sce!karam
From: karam@sce.carleton.ca (Gerald Karam)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: About advanced degrees
Summary: "Big Name" is not the be-all
Message-ID: <522@sce.carleton.ca>
Date: 12 Jan 89 00:15:18 GMT
References: <372@cwjcc.CWRU.Edu>
Reply-To: karam@sce.UUCP (Gerald Karam)
Organization: Systems Eng., Carleton Univ., Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 35

In article <372@cwjcc.CWRU.Edu> pjd@pjd.ces.cwru.edu (dr. funk) writes:
>
>There are really two issues here: credentials and education.
>
>Credentials. Some positions, like a tenure track faculty job (an extreme
>example :-), typically require a credential. Like it or not, American society
>depends on credentials. If you want a job where the credential is mandatory,
>then get the advanced degree.
>
>Beware of the class system, however. Not all credentials are created equal
>and of course, we are speaking of "big name" versus "unknown" schools.  If
>academic research is your game, then you need the "big name." Believe me,
>it is an uphill struggle to gain the acceptance of reviewers without the
>contacts and the "big name."

If you have good research it doesn't really matter where you get your
degree --- quality results get published (with rejections it's easier on the 
ego to assume that reviewers are prejudiced in some way; if you are truly 
afraid of this, then ask for a blind review).  

However, employment in universities, is like industry; e.g.
if you don't have a degree just try to get a job in industry these days ---
it ain't easy being green :-).  The degree does establish credentials to get
your foot in the door.  Similarly a PhD from a better known school will bring
your CV to the top of the hiring pile.  But just remember two things:

(1) the few really big name schools likely don't produce most of the published
    research (scan through the last 24 months of IEEE or ACM journals and check
    the author affiliations). although, i suppose this depends on how
    "big name" is defined.

(2) having a friend on the inside will always get your CV moved to the
    top of the pile, no matter what school you graduated from.

gerald karam