You're right, I know much less about competitiveness at lower-ranked schools. I would expect that the funding situation also changes there? The refrain I have h

You're right, I know much less about competitiveness at lower-ranked schools. I would expect that the funding situation also changes there? The refrain I have heard is that at lesser-known schools base packages may be better but outside funding and good research partners (e.g. colleagues or grad students or undergrads) become harder to find. I think the wider point about decoupling research and teaching still stands, though. And even elite schools (Berkeley, Cornell, Stanford) have noted recent cases of having too many students even as they maintain extremely tough faculty standards.