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<p>I disagree. </p>
<p>First, for many future scientists the formative years between 18 and 21 are often the most critical in determining a future career path. Exposure to cutting edge research, teaching by famous faculty who can excite one’s intellectual curiosity, personal mentoring with leaders in the field, availability of role models may all be critical factors in the decision process. At places such as MIT or Caltech, undergrads routinely work alongside grad students and post-docs on advanced research, can take the same advanced classes, get their work published in scientific journals and interact directly with the scientists-faculty who often run their own labs. The relationship between scientists and undergrads is also generally unencumbered by other duties such as working on a thesis. Grad students typically don’t drop in for a chat with some random faculty member as undergrads often can. There is a level of freedom as an undergrad that simply doesn’t exist as a grad student. </p>
<p>Second, grad school is highly specialized and the course choices will be limited by design. It is only as an undergrad that a student has the option to sample a wide variety of subjects outside of one’s intended major. In an increasingly technologically complex society, broad scientific literacy is essential to future physicians, engineers, policy makers and many other professions. It is quite often the case that leaders in a field, themselves passionate about their work, can best extract the essence of the subject matter and translate it in relevant terms to non specialists. At MIT and Caltech, the faculty is generally required to teach undergrads and many of the most famous professors teach an introductory course, precisely to “wet the appetite” of the student body. Anybody who took intro physics with Feynman or Macroeconomics I with Krugman probably still remembers some of the classes twenty years later. A good teacher can explain the “what”, but only somebody who truly masters the subject matter can explain the “why”. </p>
<p>Undergrad is a time for discovery and it is hard to discover without exposure.</p>