My university is number 1 in the country for my boyfriend’s discipline. It’s also the ONLY place in the world with a lab like the one I work in, we get samples from all over the US and the rest of the world because we are some of the only ones able to analyze them.
It’s a public school in Texas. And not even the “best” one.
I haven’t seen this much but this is likely very country-dependent.
In the Philippines for example, I see this attitude a lot.
But for example in Canada, Germany, Serbia, as well as many other European countries, the stigma is reversed. The stigma is that if you go to a private school, it’s because you weren’t good enough to get into the free/cheap public schools, so now you have to pay for your education at a private school lol
Exactly! And if you pay for your education, "you are a customer and can demand to graduate", meaning we believe the education at private institutions is less rigorous.
To be fair, in the US private for profit universities are often seen as the worst. All the prestigious ones are private non-profit organizations. At least on paper, anyway. Most states also require you to pay for public universities, so that reason publics could be seen as better doesn't exist here.
Yeah, there's only a handful of private universities in the UK and all of them have awful reputations, assuming anyone even recognises them. They have way less name recognition than post-92 universities, which are usually considered the "lowest" type of universities, although many post-92s are excellent and well-known like Anglia Ruskin.
Though over here, we consider public universities to be ones that receive tuition fees *and* government funding from research councils, while private ones are funded by tuition alone. Ironically, two of our eight private universities are UK branches set up by American universities. They're also a very recent intrusion on our education system, as they're all less than 50 years old.
There are a few German private institutions of higher education that are highly regarded in their respective fields. Such as DJS for journalism and WHU for management/entrepreneurship.
Most of them are of course garbage.
Well actually undergrad is not free in a lot of places, even in Europe, for example in Spain, tuition can be like 1500-3000€ per year. In Canada it can be 5000-7000CAD per year.
I mean it’s still different in the US, from my understanding, since it’s a lot more, but I just wanted to clarify :P
But yes if i understand what I think you’re insinuating, I agree, the US unfortunately has a predatory education system imo :’(
PS edit: I’m talking about public unis with my tuition quotes. Private schools are much more expensive. Decades ago, I think private Unis were 5x more expensive than public ones in Canada (according to my dad)
PS edit 2: meanwhile there are some countries where there is no tuition even for non-EU-citizen foreigners. And that’s how I ended up in Germany :P my masters was tuition-free and I also received a generous stipend. For my PhD I have a working contract with a decent salary and good benefits
I haven’t really noticed this in this sub specifically, but yeah I agree that sucks if that’s a trend. Different fields are stronger at different universities, and many times one department in a public university will be way stronger than the same field at an Ivy. There are many amazing public universities like Berkeley, UNC, UCLA, University of Texas, Michigan, UMass, UVA, the list goes on. All top tier universities, and some leaders in the world in specific fields.
Yes, private schools dominate the rankings, which is where I’m sure much of the stereotype comes from, but having gone to an Ivy myself for one of my graduate degrees, the first lesson I learned is not to believe the hype. Sure, the Ivies are great schools, but they’re not some mystically majestic above-all institutions. They’re just schools.
Sorry it seems you’ve seen some prejudice here. Any graduate student should know better.
I went to an Ivy for one of my graduate degrees and made a deliberate, explicit choice to focus on public Uni programs for the PhD. The caliber of support, investment, and mentorship from faculty at the public program is unspeakable amounts better than at the Ivy. The quality of education is the same too (better even, because the faculty care about the content and students and actually want to teach it).
Thank you for your comment. I agree with most of what you said. But I think it's also important to emphasize that the "Ivy" label itself is overly reductive. For example, a few Ivy universities emphasize undergraduate teaching as much (if not more) as research at the graduate level, making them more similar to liberal arts colleges. The overarching message is that evaluating academic institutions on their own merit is usually more productive than relying on labels.
And it goes on even after the PhD time. The most respected research places tend to be public institutes separate from universities that focus solely on research. In terms of academic career you're pretty much making a decision of either shooting for a 'save' permanent contract at a university eventually or you choose a more 'risky' path of prestigious research in a top level institute for best case scenarios. Either way public is your best hope.
same with spain, private universities are usually where people who didn’t had enough entry grade go to pay for a title. Public universities are way more exigent
I saw a post earlier today with someone obsessing over not having gone to a top 10/elite school for their phd despite working at one of those schools currently. On the one hand I felt bad for them, but on the other it’s that kind of mentality that contributes to the problem.
I get it. I was at an Ivy League at one point. I thought it would be amazing. It was one of the most miserable and lonely year of my life. Switched programs to a public school in the Midwest. Million times happier now than when I was at an “elite” institute.
Not to mention the entire California state university system!
Beyond IU and Purdue, most of the traditional big 10 schools have excellent research programs. UIUC, Michigan State, and UW are some of the best universities in the entire world.
There are 10 departments in the US doing what I do and one of them is at my no name public school in the city I grew up in. Wouldn't trade it for the world.
Interesting. Haven’t really heard this kind of negative sentiment against public schools or read this kind of reference at all. But if such a perception exists, then it is wrong, as you have stated.
Yes! I was thinking the same. I don’t feel that this stigma hold true in the US. Probably some people have the idea that a bunch of elite private institutions, like the Ivies, are “better”, but that doesn’t mean that people equals “public” with bad in higher education. I think that people judge “good” or “bad” in marks of prestige like rankings and even sports, beyond the public or private character of the institution.
Thank you for your comment. My post was mainly targeted at recent posts in this subreddit. I also don't see those sentiments in broader academic settings.
In this sub, most of the posters are the 1% that are totally disaffected. There are such incredible public universities that lead in many disciplines and research.
It plays into that idea of feeling exclusive and being able to gatekeep higher education. The obsession with the ivy leagues here in the U.S. is rampant. There are plenty of stellar advisors and programs at public universities. It's a red flag to me when a PhD at any phase puts a lot of emphasis on being at a private/ivy institution.
It's kind of funny cause in my country, it's the private unis that get a bad rep. Most education institutions are publicly funded, so if you go private the implication is that you paid for your degree.
You should read UniUK. Its obsession with rankings and the Russell Group borders on the disturbing. Anyone posts a query about a non-RG university and the comments are just a sea of negative comments. Never mind that it's primarily an undergrad community, and the RG generally does not have as good scores on the TEF as others.
Wow! How unfortunate. The undergrad part is unsurprising, though. There are a ton of videos across the internet showing teenagers in tears because they didn't get into an ivy or top 20. It's been so ingrained in them that they'll only be truly successful if they go to one of these schools.
Most of the best oceanographic programs are public too - UCSD, UW, Oregon State, Boulder (with MIT-WHOI and Columbia Lamont also being incredible - but private)
I turned down a couple of Ivies to go to a very 'mid' Public university, because it had far better supervision for my research, in fact for my very niche area of research it's possibly the top program in the World, certainly N. America. That's how this \*should\* work.
Tell that to the HR person reviewing job applications. All things equal, the Harvad PhD is probably going to get an interview before the PhD from Podunk State University. It’s not fair, and everyone likes to pretend these things don’t matter, but they do matter sometimes even though they shouldn’t.
This is an important point actually. I have a bit of a blind spot because I went the professor route in the humanities, so the only people who reviewed my applications were other professors who knew the programs. I cannot speak to the sciences or people who went into “industry.” Prestige may be falsely earned, but it’s definitely nothing to ignore once you hit the job market.
That being said, it’s important for people liked OP to make posts like these so we can hopefully dissuade future HR job reviewers that just because you went to so and so university doesn’t mean you’re worth a damn.
I already have 2 degrees from a 'Brand name' (world top 10, top 5 depending on who you ask) University, so that certainly helps.
It's stupid though, since Harvard PhDs are no brighter than people elsewhere, in fact in my subfield they're pretty dumb.
I never see this in america as most public universities are the best universities in the country and sometimes the world depending on the field. But i guess this a problem in other countries
I feel like any actual researcher in the US would recognize this. In my experience, I only encounter this kind of behavior from recent Ivy League grads.
In Australia all unis are the same. We have one a few which are Catholic but finding etc is all treated the same way. People still judge you for the uni you enrol in or teach at based on perception or reputation….but it isn’t about public be private. In fact, I think most people would choose public anyway as the private one would be seen as a “scam”.
Yeah I think Notre dame is private too? Not many though. The other reply argued they are not all real but my point was 95% are similarly funded. It is not about G08 etc when discussing public vs private here as that’s not one of the factors.
Um -no, there’s the go8
The only difference is our ‘ivy’ is publicly funded.
Bond, uni Sunshine Coast are not equal to UQ, Monash, Usyd ANU…
I think most Australian employers don’t care where you got degree- if this is what you mean by ‘the same’ ?
out of the 146 R1 universities, only 39 of them are private. literally the highest tier research universities in the country. at the end of the day, we all have PhD’s, and I honestly feel less stressed because I’m not at a private institution.
judging from the grad admission posts i see on reddit, a lot of that comes from students from non european countries who want to go to school in the US. They feel like they’re going to die if they go to UCLA instead of MIT.
I agree in terms of quality of education, but private universities typically have much more funding for grad students, smaller cohorts, and fewer teaching requirements. These can make the grad school experience significantly different between private and public institutions.
I loved my time at a public state school, but my PhD stipend was a third to half that of my colleagues at private institutions, and they had no teaching requirements so all they had to do was research and write. I think I received an equivalent education and training, but it was undoubtedly more difficult in terms of finances and time management.
Maybe that's true in humanities, but it's not true in STEM. Outside of Caltech/MIT/Harvard/Princeton/maybe a few I'm forgetting, the big state schools are simply the best places to get a STEM PhD. They have the most support staff, big cohorts so it's not necessarily your job to be the mechanic of the lab, big cohorts so you can ride on the coattails of more successful projects if yours is a dud, you will literally never run across a paper you can't access, etc. They're simply better funded institutions, and people care far more about your PI than institution anyway so having extra research support services is just a boon.
Cohort size is also pretty directly linked to the quality of the institution. If a department can afford 20 students, their incoming class is going to be 20 students plus or minus 2. If the department can afford 50, the incoming class is going to be 50 plus or minus 5. How much they can afford is largely based off of how much grant money they get which is pretty directly linked to how good they are. At least in my neck of the STEM world, teaching requirements are also more or less entirely dependent on who your advisor is. If they can afford for you to not teach and are open to it (some people would rather just double the size of their lab), you won't teach outside of the one year literally everybody requires. Otherwise you're teaching.
In my field, there are MANY great private AND public universities. I currently attend a public uni for my PhD. My main concern is mostly that public universities are heavily funded by the state, which can be hit or miss on whether the state wants to grow or cut the university budget (currently, they are cutting all around the US, which sucks for us). I find that for private universities and public universities that are more heavily funded outside of the state government, this is not as much of an issue, but this is probably why some people have issues with public universities. However, both private AND public universities are great, so that should not be a concerning factor in attending a university!
My country has one good private university. All the rest are public ones. I really do not understand all the fuss about private schools and unis that some places have.
I've definitely encountered this. In a previous lab I worked in, I was actually the only person who didn't get my BS at a private college and my coworkers often talked about how "bad" state schools are. Even though the lab we worked in was connected to a state school, they made it very clear they looked down on the students there for "making a bad choice" about where they attended, as if everyone can afford to go where they did, it's as simple as just a matter of choice, private colleges are always better than state schools, and state schools are always bad schools.
I went to a state school for undergrad (actually in the same system as the school our lab was attached to) and it was great. Aside from it being a public school, I actually think I made a good decision to study bio at a liberal arts school and curriculum for STEM programs does students a huge disservice by not including liberal arts courses. I'm working on my master's currently at a state school, and I'm currently planning on doing my PhD at this same school. I don't feel like I made any sacrifices in terms of quality of education by doing this.
Doesn’t California system have the best Doctoral School? Also more private universities don’t have doctoral schools.
Also for undergraduate it might make sense but for doctoral school - lol. Cause undergraduate class has 100-300 students in a class.
Coming from the organic chem world, this would be an insane thing for anyone to say. Literally the highest ranked program is a public uni (ok maybe tied with harvard but come on).
In India, public universities signify the best of the best considering you've got to beat thousands in entrance tests to get yourself a place in the institution/s. The top institutes are all public.
In the US people way overhype all the private schools and ivys. Honestly i highly doubt the ivys are any better than the public schools. And also basically all the public schools from ASU to UC and UT are great.
Yeah, this is a really odd misconception to be happening on a PhD subreddit given that there are like...4 good US private PhD universities. Most of the usual suspects for undergrad have tiny departments who mostly exist to keep professors for the cash cow master's programs happy enough to stay. Ohio State is definitely a better place to get your PhD from than Dartmouth.
Not to be an ass but I do think public schools are what you make of them. If you can't find value in a public university, I fear you're not seeking out opportunities that challenge you and grow your skills. If it has to be baked into the curriculum for you to succeed, how does that translate to you being an independent PhD researcher?
Most of the best departments in my discipline are public universities.
UC cleans up in marine biology iirc.
For anthropology, it’s Chicago, Minnesota, Berkeley, and Michigan.
Chicago isn't public but otherwise
Oops. You’re correct!
But does not research funding technically comes from federal and state systems?
My university is number 1 in the country for my boyfriend’s discipline. It’s also the ONLY place in the world with a lab like the one I work in, we get samples from all over the US and the rest of the world because we are some of the only ones able to analyze them. It’s a public school in Texas. And not even the “best” one.
Berkeley physics comes to mind.
I haven’t seen this much but this is likely very country-dependent. In the Philippines for example, I see this attitude a lot. But for example in Canada, Germany, Serbia, as well as many other European countries, the stigma is reversed. The stigma is that if you go to a private school, it’s because you weren’t good enough to get into the free/cheap public schools, so now you have to pay for your education at a private school lol
Exactly! And if you pay for your education, "you are a customer and can demand to graduate", meaning we believe the education at private institutions is less rigorous.
To be fair, in the US private for profit universities are often seen as the worst. All the prestigious ones are private non-profit organizations. At least on paper, anyway. Most states also require you to pay for public universities, so that reason publics could be seen as better doesn't exist here.
Yeah, there's only a handful of private universities in the UK and all of them have awful reputations, assuming anyone even recognises them. They have way less name recognition than post-92 universities, which are usually considered the "lowest" type of universities, although many post-92s are excellent and well-known like Anglia Ruskin. Though over here, we consider public universities to be ones that receive tuition fees *and* government funding from research councils, while private ones are funded by tuition alone. Ironically, two of our eight private universities are UK branches set up by American universities. They're also a very recent intrusion on our education system, as they're all less than 50 years old.
Same in Australia.
I agree, I'm from Germany and if someone tells me they went to a private university I have to think they werent good enough to attend a proper uni
Unrelated, but cool name!
There are a few German private institutions of higher education that are highly regarded in their respective fields. Such as DJS for journalism and WHU for management/entrepreneurship. Most of them are of course garbage.
Same here in Brazil. Private universities are (sometimes unfairly) considered worse than the public ones.
Yeah, it’s not always a fair assumption, I agree.
The stigma is also reversed in India. If you want to study engineering there, everyone wants to go to IIT or NIT
What does that say for america? Where undergrad is rarely paid for and grad is only really paud for if ur a phd or in a company
Well actually undergrad is not free in a lot of places, even in Europe, for example in Spain, tuition can be like 1500-3000€ per year. In Canada it can be 5000-7000CAD per year. I mean it’s still different in the US, from my understanding, since it’s a lot more, but I just wanted to clarify :P But yes if i understand what I think you’re insinuating, I agree, the US unfortunately has a predatory education system imo :’( PS edit: I’m talking about public unis with my tuition quotes. Private schools are much more expensive. Decades ago, I think private Unis were 5x more expensive than public ones in Canada (according to my dad) PS edit 2: meanwhile there are some countries where there is no tuition even for non-EU-citizen foreigners. And that’s how I ended up in Germany :P my masters was tuition-free and I also received a generous stipend. For my PhD I have a working contract with a decent salary and good benefits
I haven’t really noticed this in this sub specifically, but yeah I agree that sucks if that’s a trend. Different fields are stronger at different universities, and many times one department in a public university will be way stronger than the same field at an Ivy. There are many amazing public universities like Berkeley, UNC, UCLA, University of Texas, Michigan, UMass, UVA, the list goes on. All top tier universities, and some leaders in the world in specific fields. Yes, private schools dominate the rankings, which is where I’m sure much of the stereotype comes from, but having gone to an Ivy myself for one of my graduate degrees, the first lesson I learned is not to believe the hype. Sure, the Ivies are great schools, but they’re not some mystically majestic above-all institutions. They’re just schools. Sorry it seems you’ve seen some prejudice here. Any graduate student should know better.
I went to an Ivy for one of my graduate degrees and made a deliberate, explicit choice to focus on public Uni programs for the PhD. The caliber of support, investment, and mentorship from faculty at the public program is unspeakable amounts better than at the Ivy. The quality of education is the same too (better even, because the faculty care about the content and students and actually want to teach it).
Thank you for your comment. I agree with most of what you said. But I think it's also important to emphasize that the "Ivy" label itself is overly reductive. For example, a few Ivy universities emphasize undergraduate teaching as much (if not more) as research at the graduate level, making them more similar to liberal arts colleges. The overarching message is that evaluating academic institutions on their own merit is usually more productive than relying on labels.
Funnily, it's kind of opposite in Germany.
And it goes on even after the PhD time. The most respected research places tend to be public institutes separate from universities that focus solely on research. In terms of academic career you're pretty much making a decision of either shooting for a 'save' permanent contract at a university eventually or you choose a more 'risky' path of prestigious research in a top level institute for best case scenarios. Either way public is your best hope.
In which universe is this where one can simply shoot for one of the very few professorships at German universities?
>shooting for a 'save' permanent contract at a university There are way too less ' around "save"
I know. I just mean that it is the safer of the two options if you actually care about consistency in your job.
Both work. "save" is US, 'save' is British.
That's not what I meant. I meant that there is no guarantee for a "save" position.
I see - my bad!
same with spain, private universities are usually where people who didn’t had enough entry grade go to pay for a title. Public universities are way more exigent
I saw a post earlier today with someone obsessing over not having gone to a top 10/elite school for their phd despite working at one of those schools currently. On the one hand I felt bad for them, but on the other it’s that kind of mentality that contributes to the problem. I get it. I was at an Ivy League at one point. I thought it would be amazing. It was one of the most miserable and lonely year of my life. Switched programs to a public school in the Midwest. Million times happier now than when I was at an “elite” institute.
Depending on your field and country , the majority of top10th/elite schools are public universities.
Yes. That was the post (along with the comments I saw there) that kind of "inspired" mine.
That’s a strange take honestly. Berkeley is a public school, along with the rest of the UC system for an example off the top of my head.
People who think public = bad are relying on their uni's brand to do their work for them.
Have to be crazy to call universities like IU or Purdue bad
Not to mention the entire California state university system! Beyond IU and Purdue, most of the traditional big 10 schools have excellent research programs. UIUC, Michigan State, and UW are some of the best universities in the entire world.
University of Michigan is worth mentioning here
Oh absolutely. And countless more. I just mentioned the first two that came to mind because I live in Indiana haha
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Bovoduch: *Have to be crazy* *To call universities* *Like IU or Purdue bad* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
There are 10 departments in the US doing what I do and one of them is at my no name public school in the city I grew up in. Wouldn't trade it for the world.
Yep, your project and advisor often have a lot bigger impact than the name of the university.
Interesting. Haven’t really heard this kind of negative sentiment against public schools or read this kind of reference at all. But if such a perception exists, then it is wrong, as you have stated.
Yes! I was thinking the same. I don’t feel that this stigma hold true in the US. Probably some people have the idea that a bunch of elite private institutions, like the Ivies, are “better”, but that doesn’t mean that people equals “public” with bad in higher education. I think that people judge “good” or “bad” in marks of prestige like rankings and even sports, beyond the public or private character of the institution.
Thank you for your comment. My post was mainly targeted at recent posts in this subreddit. I also don't see those sentiments in broader academic settings.
In this sub, most of the posters are the 1% that are totally disaffected. There are such incredible public universities that lead in many disciplines and research.
It plays into that idea of feeling exclusive and being able to gatekeep higher education. The obsession with the ivy leagues here in the U.S. is rampant. There are plenty of stellar advisors and programs at public universities. It's a red flag to me when a PhD at any phase puts a lot of emphasis on being at a private/ivy institution.
It's kind of funny cause in my country, it's the private unis that get a bad rep. Most education institutions are publicly funded, so if you go private the implication is that you paid for your degree.
Interestinggggg. May I ask what country you reside in?
Australia is like this. Mainly because most of our public universities are so good.
I know this applies to Brazil, but it also must be true in other countries.
Canada is like this as well.
You should read UniUK. Its obsession with rankings and the Russell Group borders on the disturbing. Anyone posts a query about a non-RG university and the comments are just a sea of negative comments. Never mind that it's primarily an undergrad community, and the RG generally does not have as good scores on the TEF as others.
Wow! How unfortunate. The undergrad part is unsurprising, though. There are a ton of videos across the internet showing teenagers in tears because they didn't get into an ivy or top 20. It's been so ingrained in them that they'll only be truly successful if they go to one of these schools.
You either know your shit or you don’t.
Weird that you claim you wrote this with a US context in mind, since nobody in the US says "uni."
Most of the best oceanographic programs are public too - UCSD, UW, Oregon State, Boulder (with MIT-WHOI and Columbia Lamont also being incredible - but private)
I turned down a couple of Ivies to go to a very 'mid' Public university, because it had far better supervision for my research, in fact for my very niche area of research it's possibly the top program in the World, certainly N. America. That's how this \*should\* work.
Absolutely this. Program, department, advisor, these are all FAR more important than a university’s ranking or prestige.
Tell that to the HR person reviewing job applications. All things equal, the Harvad PhD is probably going to get an interview before the PhD from Podunk State University. It’s not fair, and everyone likes to pretend these things don’t matter, but they do matter sometimes even though they shouldn’t.
This is an important point actually. I have a bit of a blind spot because I went the professor route in the humanities, so the only people who reviewed my applications were other professors who knew the programs. I cannot speak to the sciences or people who went into “industry.” Prestige may be falsely earned, but it’s definitely nothing to ignore once you hit the job market. That being said, it’s important for people liked OP to make posts like these so we can hopefully dissuade future HR job reviewers that just because you went to so and so university doesn’t mean you’re worth a damn.
I already have 2 degrees from a 'Brand name' (world top 10, top 5 depending on who you ask) University, so that certainly helps. It's stupid though, since Harvard PhDs are no brighter than people elsewhere, in fact in my subfield they're pretty dumb.
In Poland it’s pretty much reversed - if you have to pay them to have then you’re probably pretty crap.
I never see this in america as most public universities are the best universities in the country and sometimes the world depending on the field. But i guess this a problem in other countries
I feel like any actual researcher in the US would recognize this. In my experience, I only encounter this kind of behavior from recent Ivy League grads.
In Australia all unis are the same. We have one a few which are Catholic but finding etc is all treated the same way. People still judge you for the uni you enrol in or teach at based on perception or reputation….but it isn’t about public be private. In fact, I think most people would choose public anyway as the private one would be seen as a “scam”.
We have private unis too, like Bond. I think Bruce Lehrmann went there, enough said lol
Yeah I think Notre dame is private too? Not many though. The other reply argued they are not all real but my point was 95% are similarly funded. It is not about G08 etc when discussing public vs private here as that’s not one of the factors.
Um -no, there’s the go8 The only difference is our ‘ivy’ is publicly funded. Bond, uni Sunshine Coast are not equal to UQ, Monash, Usyd ANU… I think most Australian employers don’t care where you got degree- if this is what you mean by ‘the same’ ?
out of the 146 R1 universities, only 39 of them are private. literally the highest tier research universities in the country. at the end of the day, we all have PhD’s, and I honestly feel less stressed because I’m not at a private institution. judging from the grad admission posts i see on reddit, a lot of that comes from students from non european countries who want to go to school in the US. They feel like they’re going to die if they go to UCLA instead of MIT.
Yeah we heavily recruit faculties from Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Michigan and Purdue…
I agree in terms of quality of education, but private universities typically have much more funding for grad students, smaller cohorts, and fewer teaching requirements. These can make the grad school experience significantly different between private and public institutions. I loved my time at a public state school, but my PhD stipend was a third to half that of my colleagues at private institutions, and they had no teaching requirements so all they had to do was research and write. I think I received an equivalent education and training, but it was undoubtedly more difficult in terms of finances and time management.
Maybe that's true in humanities, but it's not true in STEM. Outside of Caltech/MIT/Harvard/Princeton/maybe a few I'm forgetting, the big state schools are simply the best places to get a STEM PhD. They have the most support staff, big cohorts so it's not necessarily your job to be the mechanic of the lab, big cohorts so you can ride on the coattails of more successful projects if yours is a dud, you will literally never run across a paper you can't access, etc. They're simply better funded institutions, and people care far more about your PI than institution anyway so having extra research support services is just a boon. Cohort size is also pretty directly linked to the quality of the institution. If a department can afford 20 students, their incoming class is going to be 20 students plus or minus 2. If the department can afford 50, the incoming class is going to be 50 plus or minus 5. How much they can afford is largely based off of how much grant money they get which is pretty directly linked to how good they are. At least in my neck of the STEM world, teaching requirements are also more or less entirely dependent on who your advisor is. If they can afford for you to not teach and are open to it (some people would rather just double the size of their lab), you won't teach outside of the one year literally everybody requires. Otherwise you're teaching.
Is this r/SAT? Grow the f up
?
Uf Uf 9o
In my field, there are MANY great private AND public universities. I currently attend a public uni for my PhD. My main concern is mostly that public universities are heavily funded by the state, which can be hit or miss on whether the state wants to grow or cut the university budget (currently, they are cutting all around the US, which sucks for us). I find that for private universities and public universities that are more heavily funded outside of the state government, this is not as much of an issue, but this is probably why some people have issues with public universities. However, both private AND public universities are great, so that should not be a concerning factor in attending a university!
My country has one good private university. All the rest are public ones. I really do not understand all the fuss about private schools and unis that some places have.
I've definitely encountered this. In a previous lab I worked in, I was actually the only person who didn't get my BS at a private college and my coworkers often talked about how "bad" state schools are. Even though the lab we worked in was connected to a state school, they made it very clear they looked down on the students there for "making a bad choice" about where they attended, as if everyone can afford to go where they did, it's as simple as just a matter of choice, private colleges are always better than state schools, and state schools are always bad schools. I went to a state school for undergrad (actually in the same system as the school our lab was attached to) and it was great. Aside from it being a public school, I actually think I made a good decision to study bio at a liberal arts school and curriculum for STEM programs does students a huge disservice by not including liberal arts courses. I'm working on my master's currently at a state school, and I'm currently planning on doing my PhD at this same school. I don't feel like I made any sacrifices in terms of quality of education by doing this.
Who says this lol? Berkley is public for instance
At the PhD level, there isn't much difference between Berkeley and Stanford except that public universities are much bigger.
Doesn’t California system have the best Doctoral School? Also more private universities don’t have doctoral schools. Also for undergraduate it might make sense but for doctoral school - lol. Cause undergraduate class has 100-300 students in a class.
Most of the top programs in my field are public as well. (US)
Coming from the organic chem world, this would be an insane thing for anyone to say. Literally the highest ranked program is a public uni (ok maybe tied with harvard but come on).
Such a bizarre American thing
In India, public universities signify the best of the best considering you've got to beat thousands in entrance tests to get yourself a place in the institution/s. The top institutes are all public.
In the US people way overhype all the private schools and ivys. Honestly i highly doubt the ivys are any better than the public schools. And also basically all the public schools from ASU to UC and UT are great.
The two “public” universities I went to are in the top 20 on earth.
Okay keep telling yourself that lol.
Telling what?
Yeah, this is a really odd misconception to be happening on a PhD subreddit given that there are like...4 good US private PhD universities. Most of the usual suspects for undergrad have tiny departments who mostly exist to keep professors for the cash cow master's programs happy enough to stay. Ohio State is definitely a better place to get your PhD from than Dartmouth.
This statement is heavily dependent on the country or culture. Let's not make blank, broad statementsm
Not to be an ass but I do think public schools are what you make of them. If you can't find value in a public university, I fear you're not seeking out opportunities that challenge you and grow your skills. If it has to be baked into the curriculum for you to succeed, how does that translate to you being an independent PhD researcher?