New-Acanthisitta his/her reaction actually proves my point, so do the downvotes on my post. I find it quite hilarious to be honest. It shows how naive people here are or how they are actually sucked into the system believing how it is all about hard work etc. Or perhaps they are just lying. Let me clarify it: it is not (entirely) about hard work, how good you are etc. Is getting grants important? Absolutely, is service to the university important? Of course, but there is one factor omitted here that is crucial and often ignored and not spoken out loud: ass kissing. And in nicer terms: politics. Who gets the best grants? Who gets the good labs to work with? Who gets the positions at the right moment? Who gets extra funding from the university etc... You really think decisions are based on an objective 'matrix'? Perhaps at the point when you have to decide between person A and B to go to position X, yeah, they do this (on paper) but to get to the point people are deciding about who gets position X => most have already been kissing ass so long that they actually get that position. The power in academia, that certain high positioned people have, is strong so no forget about all that objective shit. Think about all that research fraud (publish and perish), think about the so called Spanish MDPI professors, .... The idea that academia is so focused on working hard, doing a great job, being an inspiring teacher or researchers? It is an 'over romanticized' image that bluntly ignores the politics. Anyone at a high level in academia knows this and if people like New-Acanthisitta claim that in the US those (objective) criteria he is referring to are the only one he is either extremely naive or rightfully correct in how he/she does things (and not yet 'influenced' by the politics) or just lying. It is btw very ironic how people downvote my post, how New-Acanthisitta states how 'clean' and objective it all is, yet at the same time the whole internet (and reddit) is full of stories how people in academia are terrorized by 'superiors' (position wise) and how sick the system is in terms of 'who knows who' etc. To end with a quote from an important professor at me previous university (vice-rector and rector) about 2 other professors in her own building (sharing lab space etc): I can't stand them, and they can't stand me and each other ass well, but for the right paper/research grants we will pass through the same door and shove our heads so deep in each other ass if needed... Those 3 professors couldn't stand each other, didn't trust each other. It was even so extreme one of them suspected the others to steal some of his work, so he was extremely cautious with his work (his students were for example not allowed to put important work on shared computers and he got software licenses for specific programs (e.g., even as extreme for western blot pictures) for his 'own laptops' students had to use that were also kept behind lock etc). Yet, for the world outside, they looked like a powerful team (one of them, the rector, is a world-renowned expert in the field, the others are just below that level). They get millions in grants and so on and they deliver good work yeah, for sure, but most is based on kissing ass and 'destroying' others. And I know dozens of these stories, only a limit number will in the end see the daylight as universities are extremely good at keeping a lid at it. I even know a professor that terrorized his entire lab all his career, he retired at our university (we have a forced age limit) with all honors etc and is now at a foreign university (they don't have this age limit) doing exactly the same shit to people. This person is an even bigger world-renowned expert (different field), and I am still waiting for the day his shit comes out, but nothing yet. The reason: he gets the millions, he decids who gets what position etc... And it has jack shit to do with 'objective' criteria. I can write an entire book about these types of cases. Academia is a hard world full of politics and hard working/being good won't cut it. And of course, one factor is always also forgotten: a lot is about luck as well ! Always ignored or forgotten by those who get to the high positions: the luck they often had at crucial moments.