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> At my school, which is ranked around 50 in the nation Top 50 on US News & World Report or CS Rankings means you're at a very good R1 institution. At #50, you

> At my school, which is ranked around 50 in the nation Top 50 on US News & World Report or CS Rankings means you're at a very good R1 institution. At #50, your institution is ranked ABOVE places like Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, RIT, Syracuse, Clemson, ... You do realize that the USA has nearly 4,000 colleges, right? If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the CS rankings in US News, you reach Walden University at #186. Which means the colleges that US news even bothers to rank in CS constitute less than 1% of the total number of colleges in the US. And you're at a place that's in the top third of the <1%!!! When I say academic CS jobs are easy to get, I'm referring to jobs at the >3,500 US higher ed institutions that aren't even included in US New's CS rankings. Again, in fields like Mathematics or Biology even TT jobs at unranked/low ranked places are non-trivial to secure.

selimthegrim 5y ago
That’s funny because I’m at Tulane and they can’t seem to hire or retain worth shit.
- throwawaygh 5y ago
  If I had to guess, OP is at an institution in the northeast/west/Chicago. Academic CS recruiting in the south and in mid-tier cities is typically more difficult (some of that might be preference, but the big thing is two body problems. I love New Orleans but can't imagine solving an academic two body problem there is particularly easy).
  - killjoywashere 5y ago
    > two body problem You mean a spouse also on an academic track?
    - throwawaygh 5y ago
      Yes. (Not just academic. Any specialized professional track outside of Medicine/Law.)
  - ModernMech 5y ago
    For anyone wondering: the two body problem is a phenomenon that happens when two academics marry. They both want an academic job together, at the same institution preferably, but there's usually only enough room for 1. What many couples do to solve this is accept postdocs at different universities (because there's a two body problem for post docs too, so you can't usually find 2 postdoc positions at the same institution), and then wait around until they can find two assistant professorship openings at the same institution. Sometimes if the candidate is really good, one department will ask another to make room for another faculty there. But that can be a political nightmare. Or if both researchers are in the same field e.g. CS, then the department might have to hire both even if they really only would take the one. It's quite a problem for hiring.

selimthegrim 5y ago

That’s funny because I’m at Tulane and they can’t seem to hire or retain worth shit.

throwawaygh 5y ago
If I had to guess, OP is at an institution in the northeast/west/Chicago. Academic CS recruiting in the south and in mid-tier cities is typically more difficult (some of that might be preference, but the big thing is two body problems. I love New Orleans but can't imagine solving an academic two body problem there is particularly easy).
- killjoywashere 5y ago
  > two body problem You mean a spouse also on an academic track?
  - throwawaygh 5y ago
    Yes. (Not just academic. Any specialized professional track outside of Medicine/Law.)
- ModernMech 5y ago
  For anyone wondering: the two body problem is a phenomenon that happens when two academics marry. They both want an academic job together, at the same institution preferably, but there's usually only enough room for 1. What many couples do to solve this is accept postdocs at different universities (because there's a two body problem for post docs too, so you can't usually find 2 postdoc positions at the same institution), and then wait around until they can find two assistant professorship openings at the same institution. Sometimes if the candidate is really good, one department will ask another to make room for another faculty there. But that can be a political nightmare. Or if both researchers are in the same field e.g. CS, then the department might have to hire both even if they really only would take the one. It's quite a problem for hiring.