How to Weigh Overall and Specialty Rankings in the PGR in Choosing a Program

From http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2011/04/how-to-weigh-overall-and-specialty-rankings-in-the-pgr-in-choosing-a-program.html

A prospective PhD student writes:

As April 15th approaches, I think it would be very helpful for many of us making final decisions on offers to have a thread on your blog that discusses whether it is a wise decision for applicants to turn down offers from programs that are much higher ranked overall in favor of a program that ranks much higher in their planned area of specialization (so, for example, turning down an offer from a top twenty program that emphasizes M&E for a top 40 program that ranks better in the history of German philosophy, for example)....

First, by the time you are choosing PhD programs, you will hopefully have a lot of additional information pertinent to your decision, that go well beyond the professional reputation of the faculty at the programs. 

Full article:http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2011/04/how-to-weigh-overall-and-specialty-rankings-in-the-pgr-in-choosing-a-program.html