Payoff of Prestige: Estimating the Impact of Graduate Program Reputation on Career Outcomes for Faculty

• In Event: Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: After Undergraduate Studies: Earnings Effects, Postbaccalaureate Aspirations, and Career Outcomes for Faculty

Abstract

Placement of Ph.D.-recipients into faculty positions has long-interested the academic community, but little is known about the extent to which professors’ careers are impacted by reputation of graduate programs they have attended. Using nationally-representative data and controlling for other factors, we estimated regression-models that show: Compared to graduates of the lowest-ranked programs, graduates of the highest-ranked programs earned higher salaries, produced more publications, were more likely to work at research-intensive institutions, and were more likely to become Full Professors. In our study, hiring institutions and departments seemed to factor into employment and pay decisions professors’ graduate-training reputation and pedigree. Together, results suggest potential human-capital and screening benefits of education—and prestige-maximization within elite networks. Policy and research implications are discussed.

Authors

• Jarrett B. Warshaw, University of Georgia

• Robert Kevin Toutkoushian, University of Georgia

• Hyejin Choi, University of Georgia