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I think it's very easy to cast a blanket across all universities as being more "industrialized" and having less student-professor interaction, and I'm sure ther

I think it's very easy to cast a blanket across all universities as being more "industrialized" and having less student-professor interaction, and I'm sure there's truth to that. As a counter-anecdote, however--when I was at Harvard, I don't think I ever felt separated from professors. I spent a healthy amount of time interacting with professors from many disciplines, in the classroom, through research, and even casually. I found even the most respected professors accessible, and enjoyed discussions with them. Harvard may be a special case; I'm not to judge other schools without experience. But I will say that I actually miss that climate a bit, rather than having tried to escape it.

IsaacL 13y ago
Yeah, I think Harvard is definitely an outlier. Sounds a lot like Oxbridge. I studied at two very good, but still 'second-tier' universities (Warwick and HKUST) and it wasn't much like you describe (both those universities are known for being very over-populated, which might be a factor). At those kinds of places, maybe if you have the confidence and training to push yourself forwards, you could probably build interesting relationships with professors. Most 18-year-olds don't, though. Median universities (in the UK, former polytechnics, in the US, community colleges) are even worse. Students there seem to be respected about as much as companies respect their minimum-wage employees. Very low tolerance for infractions (like late assignment submissions) that would be forgiven in higher-ranked places, for example. And I know some very smart people who studied at such places.