<p>So that you understand my perspective is not entirely based on theory, I have a BA from a state uni, an MBA from Ivy League, and now I teach at a community college. To say that the general student body at a CC is equal to the Ivy League is ridiculous. Are there some good students at CC? Absolutely. But sitting in the same class with those students are some that should not have even graduated from high school - and in fact, some did not (they have GEDs). Many CC students have to take developmental (read: remedial) courses to bring them to college level. In short, CC’s have much greater diversity of competence than you’ll ever find at elite schools.</p>
<p>But . . . the one disagreement I have with the previous post is that the teaching quality is much lower than Ivyed. CC instructors in general are much more student-focused. They are not worried about publish-or-perish, they don’t have TAs teaching or grading for them. Many left high-paying industry jobs to help educate their community, which is a noble cause. In my graduate program, I remember I had a few really inspiring professors, but the rest were either pompous, didn’t care much about students, or too busy consulting to do their real jobs. If I hadn’t had a full scholarship, I would have felt very angry about having to work so hard to get into this Ivy school and having to pay too much money to essentially teach myself.</p>