Fickle
August 2, 2012, 11:42am
17
<p>
hyeonjlee:
regarding the pubic universities, I am losing faith in them on a purely undergraduate academic experience front. All the recent financial woes and what not! Stories I hear directly from fellow parents and those I read are not very encouraging: giant lecture halls, hardly any direct/intimate working relationship with faculty, bloated and bureaucratic administration, difficulty in graduating in four years in popular majors if a student changes his major or have not decided on the major from day 1…</p>
<p>Most of their lay prestige predates the current woes, and the international reputation rests, to a significant degree, on graduate level research and academics. </p>
<p>So, if you judge the schools based on purely UNDERGRADUATE academic experience, I can see why they are ranked lower than their brand prestige would dictate. </p>
<p>Especially, for an out of state student, I don’t see how the tuition is ever justified for the quality of the undergraduate academic experience. At UC Berkeley the total cost of attendance for an OOS student rivals pricey private university expense. For that money, ou could get much more concentrated, high quality education at highly regarded private institutions where you sit in a class with less than 20 students, have very easy access to faculty, deal with more responsive administration, declare the major later and still graduate in four years. So, why would you spend $55K/year and be at the mercy of the politicians at the state capitol. </p>
<p>So, am I sounding elitist? I would like to see it as pragmatic. </p>
<p>Of course, for an in state student who is not getting a significant fin aid/scholarship from comparable private schools, top public universities are a BARGAIN, and considering the still outstanding overall reputation and education, I think they are an amazingly good choice. Furthermore, if a student is looking for non-academic experience that cannot be found in smaller, private elite schools, that’s an entirely different story. For instance, other than Stanford where else in top private schools would you have the football rush for a nationally ranked program?
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<p>I agree completely with what you said regarding public universities. I brought this up in another thread and had to defend myself against multiple posters holding up the sacred value of public education, as well as several accusations of “east coast elitism.” It’s almost always only worth going to a public if it’s in-state and/or significantly cheaper than a private, especially since OOS prices are almost equal to private prices and publics don’t give nearly as much aid as private ones.</p>