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Mediocre vs Top Notch university 8

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RunSomewhere

RunSomewhere

Bioengineer
Jul 29, 2008
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I am currently attending the University of Akron (Akron, OH) but although it's a stretch, I am considering trying to get in to Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH).

"Its better to do mediocre at a great university than great at a mediocre university."

What's your opinion? Do you agree/disagree with the quote?
 
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StructuralEIT,

We have been talking about Top Notch vs Mediocre schools as if there was a list someone that divided them all up. The truth is someone's opinion of a school is dependent on their own history and experiences. And plenty of "Top schools" have bad programs and there are schools, unknown otherwise, with excellent programs in particular fields.

To take StructuralEIT's last post as an example, it sounds like his employers orginally were hiring from only top schools. They then hired StructuralEIT who (I'm guessing from his post) didn't go to a "top" school. He did well, and they hired another graduate from the same school. So whatever school he went to has gone up in their opinion. It's not that they now think better of all schools because of StructuralEIT, but they now have experience that you can hire good employees from that school.

I'm also sure there are people out there that got burned by bad hires from MIT or someplace and have sworn off hiring from "those" schools.
 
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I really like this thread. Being an entering grad student I was faced with this decision. Ultimately I decided to go with a mediocre school because it was the only one that could offer me support. It is also surrounded by top-notch industry which leads to a lot OTJ experience and knowledge. I've often thought that it was better to go to top-notch school until I met some fellows co-workers/students from them. Some were A-students that knew nothing about engineering, just whats in a text book.
 
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There are people like that from crappy schools, too.

One of the best results from my having gone to a top grad program is that I still have easy access to the faculty. It may not work this way for undergrad programs; probably depends on the size of the program. In my case, though, my advisor is one of the top technical experts in a lot of matters that I deal with on a regular basis, and being able to just dash off a quick question to him is priceless. I'm not saying that he *wouldn't* answer questions from outsiders, but I generally don't feel comfortable asking questions like that of faculty members at other insitutions where I don't have a personal connection.

Regarding the worth of the students themselves, though, I agree with some others that after a certain number of years of experience, it ought not to matter. People who could have made it at the top programs but chose not to attend ought to be able to shine at work, and people who got through a top program by rote will be unremarkable at work. On the other hand, it's hard to find out whether someone did poorly at their last job.

Hg

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The Forbes rankings are a joke. Their criteria has nothing to do with a technical merit, and is based heavily on appearances in "Who's Who", debt after graduation, teachers as rated by students from a popular website, and awards. They even noted that some schools were added to the list because of their "fine reputation", not based on statistical merit. Yes, the numbers are adjusted based on enrollment, but it doesn't take a statistician to determine just how quickly those numbers become skewed.
 
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Webometrics...

Bogus.

I am hoping this site is a joke. The rankings are based on:

1) who has the most hits in search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.)

2)the number and type and size of files you can find on their websites

3) the number of references in papers and publications in Google Scholar

4)The number of unique external links

I needed a good laugh, thanks.
 
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I like Mr168's rankings because my school comes in 4th!

Actually, all joking aside, that list illustrates my point.

In my biased mind, Case Western Reserve is a better school than U of Cali San Diego. Why is that? If've never been to either. (Please, no one take offence, I'm just trying to illustrate a point) But because I've lived much closer to CWRU, and knwon a few people that went there, I am much more aware of the school.
 
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my school ranks 60th in the nation, or 100th in the world or 300th in the nation or 300th in the world or 80th in the nation... depending on which list you look at. However, in water resource engineering / research it ranks in the top 10 in the world according to unnamed sources ... which is correct? for what it's worth, here's another site:

 
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MuEagle -

I didn't notice your discipline was bio-engineering. In that case I would definitely try to go to CWRU. They have a very good program for bio-med (4th according to the US News rankings) and they have all the industry right in Cleveland. I got my BS in aero-eng from CWRU in '05 and I liked the school and program. I learned quite a bit and was challenged every step of the way.

--Jay
 
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All of this proves what?

Its all relative unless you go to Harvard, Standford, MIT, Oxford, or Yale.

For example one listed the U of Washington at 300th and the other listed it at 93rd in the world?..... I just love statistics!

Hell according to one of those I went to the 68th highest ranked school in the world and got a 2.99 GPA!... hahaha find that hard to believe... I must to a genius?

Official DIPPED Member -
Drank in PP Every Day
 
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I just registered for a course through USC Viterbi via their distance learning program. $5600/4-credit course. My employee only pays $5,250 a year. The whole degree will set me back $25k.

That is hard to stomach.

The mediocre school (U. of Akron) would cost me almost nothing. It's only $1600/4-credit course

I already have $25k in undergrad loans. I get the jist of what people are saying, the top notch schools are better, but wow, there is a large price gap.
 
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I think there is considerable debate about whether some of the top notch schools are better than middle of the road schools. But regardless of opinions, you need to evaluate schools for your major and focus, your preferred method of teaching and learning, evaluate the professors if you can, evaluate the actual classes you would be required to take, factor in where you live, where you hope to be employed / potential employers and also consider the financial benefits / liabilities. this is your research project before you apply to another school.
 
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