Let's not exaggerate the meritocratic nature of PhD programs. Brand names definitely still matter. I did my undergrad at a state school and my masters at an Iv

Let's not exaggerate the meritocratic nature of PhD programs. Brand names definitely still matter. I did my undergrad at a state school and my masters at an Ivy League school. During grad school, I recall speaking to my advisor (a professor who had only went to Ivy League schools) about my chances at getting into a PhD program at the university. He said my chances were very slim because I didn't graduate from a brand-name school. A couple other friends were told the same thing by their advisors. Maybe he's not a representative sample of Ivy League professors, but he was very much a prestige whore. I was in the meeting with another fellow student with a physics degree from a decent state school, and the professor basically just shat on our schools. Told us we might be able to get into PhD programs at inferior universities like our alma maters, where afterwards we might be able to get professorships at even more inferior schools or community colleges. Maybe that's the reality of it, but it was clear this guy was the type who placed a huge amount of value on brand names. Like the stereotypical Harvard grad who thinks everyone else is inferior.