PhD: UChicago vs UZH: Ranking Impact for Future Prospects

[dark photon]

I was about to start my PhD in physics at UZH (Universität Zürich, not to be confused with ETH Zürich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in April when the Coronavirus lock down trapped me in my country (not Switzerland nor USA) a few days before my plane was supposed to lift of. So now basically I am waiting for airplanes to fly again, go to Zürich and start my PhD. All the paperwork is already done and they are there waiting for me.

The thing is that somehow I have been offered a chance to purse a PhD at UChicago in a mixture with Fermilab. Googling some universities rankings I found that for physics UChicago stands more or less in the top 15 while UZH is in the top 100. So now I have some very specific questions:

• Is this ranking difference something that matters while doing my PhD? (Having more fund, access to better labs, etc.)
• Might the "topness" of UChicago be an advantage in the future when looking for job, be that in academy or industry?

I know that answering this questions might be hard, but maybe someone can share some experience... Also, this is not the only point to be considered when choosing a PhD because there are other things like who is the advisor, the topic, the group, the salary, etc. So I would like to focus this topic in this two specific questions.

 

[fresh_42]

We have a saying here: A sparrow in hand is better than a pigeon on the roof.

What counts in the end is the degree and the number of publications, more than the university. I wouldn't risk a certain opportunity for a maybe. And Zürich is only an hour away from Geneva.

 

[Dale]

We have a saying here: A sparrow in hand is better than a pigeon on the roof.

A sparrow anywhere is better than a pigeon!

 

[sysprog]

I don't know Zurich -- I do know University of Chicago and Argonne (I haven't been to Fermilab yet) -- they're great institutions (I admit to being biased).

 

[dark photon]

Thanks for your replies. I worked for 6 months at Fermilab and it was a great experience. I also went once to UChicago and the place is very impressive. I have never been in Zurich before but it is close to CERN and my job is going to be developing hardware for the LHC so it promises to be very nice.

What counts in the end is the degree and the number of publications, more than the university

Okay!

We have a saying here: A sparrow in hand is better than a pigeon on the roof.

Here we say "mejor pájaro en mano que cien volando".

 

[fresh_42]

I have never been in Zurich before ...

I mean it is not as if we talked about a university somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Switzerland has high standards, so your decision is a bit of a luxury problem. Zürich is very pretty with its great lake, but a bit expensive. The landscape makes up for it.

 

[StatGuy2000]

Thanks for your replies. I worked for 6 months at Fermilab and it was a great experience. I also went once to UChicago and the place is very impressive. I have never been in Zurich before but it is close to CERN and my job is going to be developing hardware for the LHC so it promises to be very nice.
Okay!
Here we say "mejor pájaro en mano que cien volando".

I can see that you are a native Spanish speaker (I used Google Translate above and your statement above comes out as "Better bird in hand than a hundred flying" -- not sure how accurate is the translation).

 

[sysprog]

Thanks for your replies. I worked for 6 months at Fermilab and it was a great experience. I also went once to UChicago and the place is very impressive. I have never been in Zurich before but it is close to CERN and my job is going to be developing hardware for the LHC so it promises to be very nice.
Okay!
Here we say "mejor pájaro en mano que cien volando".

Apparently we've improved our bird-catching since Roman Empire days -- Est avis in dextra, melior quam quattuor extra -- (if) a bird is in the right (hand), (that) is better than four (birds) outside (of the hand).