Would you take VAP at prestigious school or TT at bad school

[Help please]

Good evening dear colleagues, I really need your advice. Would you take a VAP at the prestigious school or TT at an unknown low ranking schools?

[Location?]

Are location the same? Pick one where you would rather live - if they are the same, the pay for the TT job might be higher and more secure. VAP-ing is not a great long term prospect.

[ggd3]

It depends on whether you have the confidence to land a better TT position later with the experience of VAP at a prestigious school. If you can see your CV getting stronger with more pubs coming out or new research rolling out, and you believe your subfield will still have more chances in the following year's job market, staying as VAP temporarily may not be a bad choice.

[Different questions]

I honestly think you are asking the wrong questions here, or at least not considering better oppositional choices. I believe the central quandary here involves taking a TT position that doesn’t thrill you. And you should explore why that it. The only downside you mention is “prestige.” And I have to wonder why that matters to you. Seriously. Is that a proxy for something else? Is it related to your potential salary or your potential self esteem. Only you can figure out what this is important to you. But I would, for an initial thought experiment, ignore the high-status VAP possibility and just think about whether you might be truly happy (or miserable) with the tenure-track position.

As somebody who worked in several different institutions before finding my current permanent home, I had both of the positions you described for at least a little while in my past. And what I eventually learned is that, at least for me, the most important factor influencing my job satisfaction and happiness was the work environment. Good colleagues, respectful administration, stable budgets, engaged students — hard to get the whole package at the same time, but those were the components that contributed to my sleeping better at night and enjoying my work during the day.

The most miserable of my friends and former graduate school colleagues seem to be located in the universities with the highest outside reputations and status. Correlation, not causation, of course. But over time I have become convinced that prestige is an overblown job market consideration. Your mileage may vary.

[this]

"prestige is an overblown job market consideration"

This is 100% true. More prestige helps open doors and more possibilities for funding. But there are also downsides to usually having the most egotistical colleagues.

Location and positive work environment matter way more than prestige.

[anon prof]

someone from my grad school took the VAP and now he's a stay at home parent. It's not really a great path to a job, VAPs are more like a backup plan if the TT doesn't work out for you. So would you rather have no job than the TT job? even if it meant never getting a TT job? Then take the VAP.

[providence]

i hope this isn’t just piling on.

i once accepted a vap offer at a “prestigious institution.” it went to my head — i imagined that I was destined for great things. when they later posted a position for a tt slot, of course I applied. i was a shoe-in, naturally.

i didn’t even get a phone interview.

i later realized that the standards and expectations for a vap vs a tt position at this college were vastly different. they had taken me on as a vap because they weren’t expecting me to stay; i was good enough for a temp position, but only in the context of “everybody who was an ideal candidate for a permanent position was already taken.” for those who understand a college basketball metaphor, even though I had won the nit tournament that meant by definition that i wasn’t even a qualifier for the ncaa rounds. perhaps “not ready for prime time” is another way of putting it. i got a big head, but i came back down to earth very quickly.

take this advice for whatever it is worth: the tenure-track offer is an opportunity to build a career. the vap offer is just an extension of job market hell.

[Help please]

Thank you everyone for your advice. It is very helpful. I have geographic restriction due to family thus I was jus trying to buy time, accepting a VAP means 9 months away from home, accepting a TT in a village for a person with no car and visual impairment is not really an option. Thank you for your time everyone!