I picked my doctoral program solely based on the professor I wanted to work with. The person should be (1) interested in a specific topic that absolutely fascinates you, (2) nice, and (3) available. The prestige of the school and the prestige of the professor are less important. My wife got her doctorate with a guy who had a great name for himself, but he was a crank and he was hard to access. Her experience was miserable. Mine was blessed.
Forget the school. Forget the program. Go for the professor.
