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note that in that bastion of mediocrity, otherwise known as our state flagship, almost all of his professors have degrees from Harvard, Brown, Berkely, Princeton, etc.. I wonder at what point did they lose IQ points?

This is something we haven't touched on yet... where do all those PhD recipients go in "academia"? The answer is that many of them, even from top schools, end up at state or regional or lower tier colleges. I have degrees from two universities, one an undergrad degree from what is considered a "top" state university and one a masters from a more mediocre state U. The professors at the lower ranked state U were very, very good. It is the quality of fellow students (and thus quality of class discussion, quality of group project work -- of which there is a ton because you can't get away from it, quality of conversation in the common area of campus, etc.) that varies widely between the institutions. I don't think I have disparaged the faculty themselves at lower ranked institutions at any point in these postings. But someone mentioned earlier in the thread that the faculty are forced to "dumb down" their content to match the student body at schools where the students aren't as strong. Many of those professors are thrilled when they get an exceptional student and will work one-on-one with that student -- but there still is a difference between being in a classroom of peers or near-peers, and being one of a kind in the student pool.

Last edited by intparent; 07/22/13 05:20 PM.