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Aren't undergraduate ivy league programs more about signaling status than actually becoming educated?
by neets 7y ago
Aren't undergraduate ivy league programs more about signaling status than actually becoming educated?
- narak 7y agoMIT isn't ivy league and probably the least 'about signaling' school in the US...
- csallen 7y agoYes and no. It's been 10 years since I graduated, but I doubt much has changed. The curriculum is rigorous, the students are smart, and people are serious about learning. But nevertheless, going to MIT does signal something much stronger than the vast majority of other schools, and MIT students are highly aware of that, as is the institution itself.
- TylerE 7y agocough Media Lab.
- kelnos 7y agoMIT may not signal the same thing that an Ivy does, but it certainly signals something, and the faculty, staff, students, and graduates are certainly aware of and use that.
- downerending 7y agoPretty sure my school you never heard of has MIT beat on that one.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- ericd 7y agoThe signalling is definitely a thing, but the bigger thing is just getting together with lots of smart people and working together to learn this stuff.
- toss1 7y agoNO Perhaps for some, but everyone I knew while I was an Ivy undergrad was doing their level best to take advantage of the benefits of that amazing environment of smart, educated people, both the profs, the visiting speakers, and the other students. Since then, it has been what I've learned, not what signaling I could do that has helped me most (tho I'm not the most social person, so YMV). One thing I really learned there (among other places), is that it really pays to learn from the best -- you have to go through a learning process, and best to learn it once going directly to the top level, vs. a watered-down version and then re-learning. (of course, you can't instantly jump to the top level, but just getting the clues form those who work at the top levels as you work your way up the curve is a huge benefit).
- an-allen 7y agoThis comment. All this nonsense about elite universities being just about the degree and signalling is absolute rubbish. Elite universities are elite because they are made of some of the most influential thinkers, scientists, engineers, and professors in the world. Getting to participate in problem solving with these people is what makes these educations valuable in my opinion. I learned more from watching my professors tackle hard problems and reason themselves through them than I did from the actual material they were attempting to tackle. There is something to be said about the techniques and culture of the worlds best academics.
- toss1 7y agoExactly Yet my above comment, a factual 1st-person account -- nothing more, nothing less -- earns multiple downvotes with no dispute/discussion. Evidently, anti-intellectualism and 'anti-establishment' virtue-signalling is dominant even here on HN... Sad to see. (yup, let the downvotes begin --- sheesh)