[extasia]

For what it’s worth, my second year of PhD was relatively miserable compared to my first and third.

ignore the prestige games, knuckle down and do the best work you can do- it’s more impressive if you succeed at a lower rank institution anyways, imo. And if you want that signalling power you can always plan to go for a postdoc.

Wishing you the best of luck, it can be a lonely path.