Big state schools - lot of fun, great networks, but do you really learn there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all classes at state universities are huge. You get to know the professors in your program, in student organizations, etc. There are many opportunities for connecting with faculty and getting individualized attention. You take smaller seminars. And if you think students at state flagships are producing "high school level work," you are crazy. You have to be more of a self-starter, in some ways; no one is spoon-feeding you this stuff, but the opportunities are there, and plentiful.

Unfortunately, depending on the course/ major, this is often exactly the case.

It has to be. Are you telling me your average in state kid at UGA is cranking out papers that rival kids from the northeast who've been through the ringer at elite privates or publics? No f'ing way.

Someone tell this genius that the word is “wringer.”

I had no idea. Thank you. Now I have to go throw my Ivy League degree in the recycling.

There is a lot you so-called ivy leaguers don't know.

For example, tell us where the expression "through the wringer" originated. (And if you knew, you'd have the sense not to have written "ringer" in the first place.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: The best professors are at large universities because they are able to generate significant research grants for groundbreaking, cutting edge research.

LAC profs are second tier quality.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools and equivalents, perhaps with some exceptions in the sciences and engineering. But I'm sure those superstar profs at UNC are spending all their time focusing on the 500 kids in their lecture hall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all classes at state universities are huge. You get to know the professors in your program, in student organizations, etc. There are many opportunities for connecting with faculty and getting individualized attention. You take smaller seminars. And if you think students at state flagships are producing "high school level work," you are crazy. You have to be more of a self-starter, in some ways; no one is spoon-feeding you this stuff, but the opportunities are there, and plentiful.

Unfortunately, depending on the course/ major, this is often exactly the case.

It has to be. Are you telling me your average in state kid at UGA is cranking out papers that rival kids from the northeast who've been through the ringer at elite privates or publics? No f'ing way.

Someone tell this genius that the word is “wringer.”

I had no idea. Thank you. Now I have to go throw my Ivy League degree in the recycling.

There is a lot you so-called ivy leaguers don't know.

For example, tell us where the expression "through the wringer" originated. (And if you knew, you'd have the sense not to have written "ringer" in the first place.)

You got me. I had no idea. I googled it. Fascinating. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/is-it-through-the-wringer-or-through-the-ringer-difference#:~:text=The%20idiom%20through%20the%20wringer,was%20often%20that%20of%20questioning.

One thing about being an Ivy Leaguer, you have zero insecurity about your intelligence. If anything you act like an idiiot most of the time so state u joe sixpack types don't feel inimidated.

[Anonymous]

LAC people are very sensitive and very defensive. No need to be that way as an LAC education is just a different experience than an education earned at a large public university.

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand the appeal of a large State U OOS. Why would a student with the chops to go to an elite private, small medium or large, choose to go to a massive entity, where there is v little geographic and in some cases racial diversity? Also, I’ve hired people from U Mich, I gotta say not impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LAC people are very sensitive and very defensive. No need to be that way as an LAC education is just a different experience than an education earned at a large public university.

All I see are state u people here being defensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the appeal of a large State U OOS. Why would a student with the chops to go to an elite private, small medium or large, choose to go to a massive entity, where there is v little geographic and in some cases racial diversity? Also, I’ve hired people from U Mich, I gotta say not impressed.

Totally, I mean having 90% of kids from North Carolina or Texas is not how one would deliberately set up a college environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: The best professors are at large universities because they are able to generate significant research grants for groundbreaking, cutting edge research.

LAC profs are second tier quality.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools and equivalents, perhaps with some exceptions in the sciences and engineering. But I'm sure those superstar profs at UNC are spending all their time focusing on the 500 kids in their lecture hall.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools, Big Ten universities, University of California system, Johns Hopkins, MIT, and many other National Universities whether public or private. Just follow the research dollars.

[Anonymous]

A reasonable ranking of undergraduate colleges & universities is the Wall Street Journal / Times Higher Education rankings which is a combined ranking of national Universities and LACs. The top ranked LACs come in at #22 and at #23 (Amherst & Williams--if i recall correctly).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LAC people are very sensitive and very defensive. No need to be that way as an LAC education is just a different experience than an education earned at a large public university.

All I see are state u people here being defensive.

Probably because your vision is limited by your small school educational experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: The best professors are at large universities because they are able to generate significant research grants for groundbreaking, cutting edge research.

LAC profs are second tier quality.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools and equivalents, perhaps with some exceptions in the sciences and engineering. But I'm sure those superstar profs at UNC are spending all their time focusing on the 500 kids in their lecture hall.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools, Big Ten universities, University of California system, Johns Hopkins, MIT, and many other National Universities whether public or private. Just follow the research dollars.

Your thought process is skewing towards the sciences. I agree, research opportunities in the sciences must be extensive at large schools, but I do hear GREAT things about the STEM experience at LACS. I have no dog in this fight, since I can't tell a beaker from a bunson burner from a wringer. And it does seem to be the case that a lot of STEM kids on the PhD track go to LACS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: The best professors are at large universities because they are able to generate significant research grants for groundbreaking, cutting edge research.

LAC profs are second tier quality.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools and equivalents, perhaps with some exceptions in the sciences and engineering. But I'm sure those superstar profs at UNC are spending all their time focusing on the 500 kids in their lecture hall.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools, Big Ten universities, University of California system, Johns Hopkins, MIT, and many other National Universities whether public or private. Just follow the research dollars.

Your thought process is skewing towards the sciences. I agree, research opportunities in the sciences must be extensive at large schools, but I do hear GREAT things about the STEM experience at LACS. I have no dog in this fight, since I can't tell a beaker from a bunson burner from a wringer. And it does seem to be the case that a lot of STEM kids on the PhD track go to LACS.

Because they are lost after 4 years at an LAC and need more education in order to be ready to enter the real world ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A reasonable ranking of undergraduate colleges & universities is the Wall Street Journal / Times Higher Education rankings which is a combined ranking of national Universities and LACs. The top ranked LACs come in at #22 and at #23 (Amherst & Williams--if i recall correctly).

So Emory offers a better education than Williams? Idk, I'd go to Williams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: The best professors are at large universities because they are able to generate significant research grants for groundbreaking, cutting edge research.

LAC profs are second tier quality.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools and equivalents, perhaps with some exceptions in the sciences and engineering. But I'm sure those superstar profs at UNC are spending all their time focusing on the 500 kids in their lecture hall.

The best professors are at Ivy League schools, Big Ten universities, University of California system, Johns Hopkins, MIT, and many other National Universities whether public or private. Just follow the research dollars.

Your thought process is skewing towards the sciences. I agree, research opportunities in the sciences must be extensive at large schools, but I do hear GREAT things about the STEM experience at LACS. I have no dog in this fight, since I can't tell a beaker from a bunson burner from a wringer. And it does seem to be the case that a lot of STEM kids on the PhD track go to LACS.

Because they are lost after 4 years at an LAC and need more education in order to be ready to enter the real world ?

In some cases, it's because their parents are academics and understand the value of it.

[Anonymous]

How are we defining "the best professors"? It sounds like a lot of you are talking about the best researchers. The best teachers of undergraduate students are at LAC.