[mabub24]

This was why I decided to not go for my PhD. I looked at the latest hires for tenure track positions from my graduating year and saw that essentially all of them came from the same 6 "top tier" schools for my program/field of study. That meant I had to get into those schools if I wanted to end up a professor. Then I looked at the incoming class of PhD candidates for those schools from that year. They all also came from those 6 schools.

It was especially disappointing when I found incredible research being done in "less elite schools", which I was explicitly told to not apply to or "I would have no chance getting to tenure track interviews." But, guess where those professors at those "less elite schools" came from? Those same 6 schools! It was absurd.

At my own B-tier undergrad school, which I went to because it was affordable and offered me a lot in scholarships, all of the new hires were also from those schools. The whole system was absurd.