Are PhD degrees from different schools are equal in value?

Question

We friends had a chat, and someone said when you manage to get a PhD degree, it doesn't matter where you study, the certificate's values are the same.

I suppose a graduate from Ivys (Harvard, Yale, etc) are still regarded as better ones - at least that is the common perception, which does not necessarily reflect the truth.

But apart from these universities, is it true that your PhD degrees are considered being equal in value, whether you study in France, Russia, or China?

Answer 1

If a job calls for a Ph.D., then presumably you are qualified for that job regardless of which school you graduated from. However, it is true that a Ph.D. from a better school (not necessarily an Ivy, but the better schools in a particular discipline) are generally preferred and may be offered more money for the same job because of the demand for them. I work at a university, and if we were hiring a new faculty member, the quality of the degree would definitely matter. We would not, for example, hire someone with a degree from an online university at all, Ph.D. or not (I've seen such programs offered online in which none of the faculty had Ph.D.s themselves!). There is a whole tier of Ph.D. schools of the more traditional type that we would not hire, and we would probably be hesitant to hire graduates of most schools in other countries, other than those which we recognize as being excellent (Cambridge, no problem. University of Northwest Mongolia - we wouldn't consider). Then, given the choice between hiring candidates with equal publication and teaching records and equal personalities, we would much rather have the Stanford Ph.D. or the University of Chicago Ph.D. than the one from the University of Arkansas or Michigan State, even though those are perfectly respectable U.S. schools.

Answer 2

Not quite sure what you're asking here. If it's whether US Ivy League PhDs are regarded as better, and then the rest of the US colleges are on a par with every other university internationally, then I'd have to say no. Many countries have top universities which are considered to be alongside the US Ivy League - Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, and so on.

In the UK at least, there's always an external examiner for a PhD thesis to keep the standards the same. But Oxbridge will still catch the eye as being "better".

Answer 3

Some awarding bodies will always catch an employers eye.

I always look to see if I can recognise the awarding body, there are so many so called colleges granting degrees for a price that one has to be careful.
If the degree is from a reputable education establishment then they are all equal on paper subject for subject.

Answer 4

lol if you need to ask that then surely youre not capable of a phd

are you seriously trying to tell me that a phd in maths from cambridge is no better than a phd in maths from a mickey mouse american degree factory???

give me a break