In my experience, if you want your PhD to be enjoyable you probably shouldn't do it at a top-tier university. Top-tier universities are pressure-cookers. On t

In my experience, if you want your PhD to be enjoyable you probably shouldn't do it at a top-tier university. Top-tier universities are pressure-cookers. On the other hand, the job market favors folks with Ivy League (or Ivy equivalent) degrees... One of the moments that caused me to nope out of science was when I (as a research assistant) received a work e-mail from a postdoc at a high profile northeastern uni at 11:00 PM on a Saturday night. There's no way in hell that's an appropriate time for work in my book.