It is quite possible that there is some sort of misconception concerning the significance of the ranking behind this question, but in order to clear it up it would be helpful if you specified what exactly it is that you're concerned about. In other words, what exactly do you imagine that this ranking reflects?

I modified my question,

I do not think that "I just do not like to study in a university that has bad ranking" is much of an explanation. I mean, if that's a goal of yours, you can certainly pursue it, but it seems like a very idiosyncratic goal on its own. Presumably the real situation is that you are concerned that "bad ranking" is an indicator of <something bad> about the university and you would rather not study at a university which is <bad in some respect>. My question was, what do you imagine that this <bad thing> is?

I definitely do not know a lot about the university, I just looked up the ranking on the internet. It is a smaller university. Would ranking matter when studying a Ph.D.?

Please don't add new questions to your Question, especially after you've gotten an Answer.

I think that's the real question you should ask yourself here. But as Azor Ahai says, it should be asked as a separate Question (after you've made sure that it hasn't already been answered somewhere here). By the way, I would venture to guess that the real issue here is not that you don't know a lot about the university (which is quite understandable), but that you probably don't know what the ranking is based on (other than possibly being a vague proxy for prestige) and whether the things that it's based on are relevant to your potential Ph.D. studies.

You might be interested: academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90/…

Years ago, I encouraged a potential student to take up a scholarship at my alma mater with my collaborator as a supervisor. He/she then replied with the same comment as you, 'blah blah bad ranking...', not knowing he/she was pissing me off, and thus many doors closed on him/her that day. I suggest you search this forum on what is more important, uni or supervisor. Going to a high ranking university amounts to nothing if you cannot finish due to poor supervision or lack of motivation.

@Prof.SantaClaus you can presumably have both though - both good supervision and a high-ranking university.

@Prof.SantaClaus my experience is actually the reverse, with university ranking mattering more than the identity of the supervisor (unless the supervisor is independently famous). However, my experience is based on industry jobs - basically eykanal's answer. I do agree it's not a good idea to bring up ranking with a prospective supervisor however, since it can easily offend.

This is like going on a date and saying "You're a bit ugly. Can you set me up with some of your better-looking friends? We could still hang out..."

Yes, it is a good idea to tell a potential supervisor that you think his/her university sucks! And that you would like to be at a better university than his/hers. That will end well and make you new friends.

There has been a lot of fuss in Europe in the last ten years because of rankings. Basically, most rankings depend directly on the size of the university. A university twice as big will have a much better ranking. Since university in Europe is often divided into "small" universities (with sometimes two "adjacent" universities on the same campus), some rankings were very low. So, the universities "merged". Suddenly some rankings are very high. What changed in practice? Nothing. It's still the same universities. They're just "bigger" because instead of one "A" and one "B", there is now one "AB".

Is there something very special about you that means you can only study at "higher" ranked places?

If you get admitted to a "higher" ranked place, and they slip down a few places in a year or two, would you then leave?

In my experience, if you were to rank the particular research groups in a narrow field, you can get wildly different results from the rank of the universities as a whole. So, unless you are chasing for the best ranking and then applying for whatever they are good at, try to find places where they are ahead of the curve studying what you want to research. It seems like you have found such a place.

@Prof.SantaClaus, " In my experience, having a good supervisor, especially one who can publish in top venues and have graduated many students, is more important than say a university's ranking. " --- yes, but the chances that a professor at a "rank-900" university publishes regularly in top venues etc. is very low. We're not talking about a small ranking gap, but ~500 gap, which is huge and meaningful.

@StianYttervik, yes, but not for a >500 difference in ranking, which is what we're discussing here.

@Dilworth on most of the ranking schemes I'm used to the difference between 1 and 500 is far more significant (in terms of prestige, and a little bit in terms of what an undergraduate degree mark is "worth") than between 500 and 1000.

I find it somewhat baffling that the question focusses on the rank(s) of the university in question, but does not bother to at least mention from which specific ranking these numbers are taken.

@origimbo, correct. I'm speaking about a difference between a "top 100/50 university" and a university ranked ~500. The difference is probably huge.

#26 In Canada is probably Ryerson if you're going by QS, and if you're going to turn your nose up at Ryerson for prestige reasons you'll have a hard time find a better school to go to. That's an excellent university, especially in the technology sector. At the postgraduate level, it's not the school that matters so much as the student. An excellent school won't magically turn you into a superstar student if you're not one already. If it provides the resources you need to study what you want then it's really going to be up to you to succeed, wherever you end up.

@Dilworth "a professor at a "rank-900" university publishes regularly in top venues" -- that's very presumptuous of you and quite arrogant. Maybe you went to a fancy pants school. The top 100 universities graduate more than enough PhDs to fill the 'bottom' universities. If not that, many academics join a uni for personal reasons.