We've talked a great deal about college. You don't, after all, pay $44 K/yr (retail) for high school because you have little faith in expensive schooling. The elephant in the room is how to cope with predicting the future in The Information Age in which knowledge in science and technology has a half-life of 4 years, the humanities can be learned from the Internet, universities are deeply politicized against us, and the tuitions are so large they are life altering. Steve Cobb and I had a very long discussion about this last night after the club meeting. He has the excellent idea that he wants to be at a research university where he feels he has the best opportunity to be at the cutting edge of the Singularity and have the highest caliber of student body to challenge him. He was having none of my observations that enough smart students can be found at any major college nor that enjoying yourself along the way should be a consideration (I hope I don't get re-born as his kid). He freely admitted that he had been infected by the "East Coast is best" prejudice but swallowed hard when I observed that their tuitions listed around $50 K/yr. The conversation ended when I learned that he had California residency and I observed that most of the UC schools were world class, and for him, very inexpensive. Steve was respectful but skeptical. He hadn't heard of the Shanghai Rankings. Well, here they are and it sure upsets the applecart of perceived truth. The top 50 research universities in the world include surprises like Wisconsin (17) Illinois (25) and Colorado (32). As for Steve, 6 of the 10 State schools in the UC system have ranked in the top 50 universities in the world for all 7 years the rankings have been published. You can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Universities
As universities struggle to keep their programs relevant, I came across this article in the WSJ about designing your own college major. Interdisciplinary studies deserve serious discussion. When you read the Comments about the article, remember to ask yourself the question, what is the best fit for ME?
http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2010/11/17/can-do-it-yourself-majors-help-you-land-a-job/
Well I am definitely a convert from "East coast is best" mentality; the East coast really just has its head up its own ass. All throughout Exeter I dreamed of going to Dartmouth, but I didn't get in (too many exonians that year). Boy am I glad that I didn't get in though. I have realized in my time on the west coast and in godless/heathen canada that I never really liked people at Exeter. My high school experience (other than in the classroom) was miserable, and I glad that i ended up in a place where "Exeter" doesn't turn an ear. I have had a number of TA's and professors (in chemistry) tell me that our courses here at UBC are harder than those they experienced at Harvard or Princeton or many of those overblown east coast bastions of masturbatory substance. My only advice for looking at school is to try to go to a city or place where you will enjoy life. Live life, and have university on the side as your job.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, i deeply disagree with the drive to multidisciplinary degrees. People love these degress because you take all the intro courses to everything and they are easy and you learn things that you want to learn, not what you have to learn to be effective in a field. These multidisciplinary degrees only result in graduates with no real knowledge of anything. They never get to the highest level courses their field, and when they show up to a job they are useless. However, I do believe in knowing things outside of your field, but your major should be supplemented with minors and second majors. When you come out of high school, you know nothing. How can you be expected to dream up a well crafted degree?