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[quote=Anonymous]As a PhD candidate at at top school in my field, I taught undergrads at my own school as a TA and as at a school nearby as an adjunct. Both had small class-size of about 25.

The undergrads at my own school were very bright and highly competitive.  They cared mostly about their grade and less about learning.  They didn't participate and usually only interacted with me to fight for points on exam grades.  Even if their grade was 98/99!  They couldn't accept the fact that their answer didn't warrant a perfect score and, as a result, generally didn't care to know "why" they were wrong.  The athletes from "star" team did not do as well in class, but never reached out. None had any problems with passing.

The undergrads at the other school had a wider range of ability but higher level of participation and engagement. They reached out more often.  Granted, some of this was to understand (which the kids at my school mostly "got" so didn't need to ask) but it also included getting advice or asking more about a topic or whether what we had discussed applied similarly to another topic. When kids came to see me about exams, they wanted to understand what they had missed. There were more student athletes in these classes, many were juggling class with an NCAA sport and they did a great job at advocating for themselves and approaching in advance of any absences. (The kids at my school were mostly not juggling anything but class. Maybe an on-campus job.).  The athletes at this school were a mix. One was at the top of the class - another was failing and already on serious probation and had coaches calling teachers about grades.

I preferred the other school's students.  They were far more engaged and far less entitled.  I felt like the kids at the T10 school were in full on competitive mode. I couldn't imagine most of them caring much about the person next to them.  
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