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I am a Computer Science M.Sc. Student in a university in a developing country. I am planning to apply for PhD this year. Actually my main reasons to not continue my PhD here, are the issues related to my country economics and infrastructures. Poor dorm conditions, no funded PhD, unstable internet, no proper study place in university are some of them where decrease the quality and contributions of a PhD student and I think that those issues will be solved by the migration to USA itself and is not related to the rank of the destination university. to make my question clear, actually I want to know what are the benefits of a top 20 university in USA saying, Caltech over a top 70 university saying, Oregon State University .please note that I am not asking about the after-graduation job perspective, I mean What are the effects on the quality and contributions of a PhD student that studies in a top-20 instead of a top-70 university.

P.S: if it matters ranks are according to the US News portal.

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    The US News rankings are meaningless because (IIRC) they compare entire universities with one another, rather than trying to compare individual departments. Those two things come apart, often dramatically. Rutgers University in NJ isn't a particularly distinguished university in general, but it's perhaps the best philosophy department in the world, and certainly the best for some particular areas of philosophy. It's good to go to a better-ranked department, and better-ranked places will have better infrastructure, as you mention, but look at departments, not universities.
    – user10636
    Commented Mar 22, 2016 at 12:17
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    @shane: There are more US News rankings than are dreamt of in your philosophy: grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/…. I can't specifically speak for CS, but I am familiar with the math rankings and know they are compiled by asking a lot of mathematicians which departments have the best reputation. In my opinion and experience, this is meaningful and in fact the best way to determine the rough classification of departments...according to their reputation.
    – Pete L. Clark
    Commented Mar 22, 2016 at 12:57
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    You asked a virtually identical question earlier, which was closed as a duplicate. If you think this is not a dupe, please comment as to why not, but please refrain from simply reposting the question without change.
    – eykanal
    Commented Mar 22, 2016 at 12:58
  • @PeteL.Clark Thanks for the tip, I didn't realize US News had started doing this. The methodology looks sound. To be clear, I'm not opposed to rankings, just bad rankings.
    – user10636
    Commented Mar 22, 2016 at 13:03
  • @eykanal Actually I have changed that post, i.e. that question is edited, but unfortunately SO has very weak process in reopening a duplicated question. so I asked a new question which is a preserved right for me as I know.
    – user35129
    Commented Mar 22, 2016 at 14:36

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