Therefore, rankings may not tell you much about a specific field in which you are interested. Getting a degree from a big name school is better no matter what you want to do with that degree . Therefore, if you want to go into big time research, you should definitely consider a big name school. However, where you got your degree means less and less as time goes on and what you have done since receiving it means more and more. Thus, ten years after you have gotten your degree, it probably makes very little difference where you got it.
Rankings only make a difference if the numbers are very different.
You have to decide what you want and which degree will be more likely to get you there. If you want to go into teaching at a big name school or if you want to do research at a big time research institution, going to a big name school is definitely worthwhile. Big name schools can get you into big time positions whereas smaller ones probably cannot. This document was developed jointly by Xavier's Biology Department, Chemistry Department, and Premedical Office. It is one of a series of documents designed to increase the number of students from Xavier who enter biology or chemistry graduate programs and successfully complete degrees there.