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As someone who got an undergrad degree from a top 40 school and is now taking courses at a state system school accepting a lot more students, I completely agree
by aaaxyz 6y ago
As someone who got an undergrad degree from a top 40 school and is now taking courses at a state system school accepting a lot more students, I completely agree.
The difference in terms of work output and professionalism between students is massive. Presentations from other students lack depth and often fail to explain basic concept; they have very little educational value. Group work is a complete mess since a lot of people never learned how to organize themselves, have very little motivation or fail to explain their ideas properly. Simple things you usually learn in undergrad like putting a bibliography together or spell checking documents are lacking. You end up wasting huge amounts of time correcting other people's mistakes.
Another big difference I've noticed is that students seem to have little interest in the area of study; none of the ones I met have non curricular side projects. There's also a lot less discussion happening outside of classrooms.
- google234123 6y agoYou are not hanging out with the right people then. I think you will find the top students in any random state school are just as good as at an ivy league institution. Source: I've been at both.
- BeetleB 6y agoI've been at both an average school (undergrad) and a top school (grad). I somewhat agree with your parent. I don't doubt great undergrads exist in an average school, but the chances of randomly running into one are much lower. I did not run into any. I'd also disagree with the characterization of "top" students. A lot of the top students at the average school, while great at academics, were still a lot less "well rounded". They had few projects that they worked on outside of class, etc. Not that they weren't interested - just that there was not enough "critical mass" of such people for it to become natural.
- sunstone 6y agoOr maybe they spend their spare time working so they can afford to stay in school.
- aaaxyz 6y agoThere might be some students that are just as good as the top ivy league students but in a smaller faculty (~100 students) that number is most likely closer to zero.
- babesh 6y agoThere are a few top students at a random state school that are just as good. The difference is that there are just many, many more good students in an Ivy League institution. Also, the Ivy League students just have a much better education. You can tell by interviewing the bad Ivy League students and noticing that at least their thinking process is structured (try to understand problem, form hypothesis, etc...) The bad students at non Ivy League level schools have no thinking process. It's saddening. You can tell that the few top students at the random state school would be even better if they had the opportunities that the Ivy League students are provided. It's much more impressive to get to third base starting from home than getting to home starting from third base. It shows independent thought, grit, and adaptability. Those aren't that common even at the Ivy League institutions. The trait most prevalent in Ivy League interviews seems to be excellence in a circumscribed area rather than general ingenuity.