<p>This is an inquiry that could probably extend to all of education in general, but does anyone look at how colleges improve competitiveness of their students? I mean, comparable to going to a “competitive/top school” would be going to be a school that takes not-as-competitive students and turns them into competitive, highly desirable graduates.</p>
<p>In the debate of “Does where you go to school matter?” it would seem that value-added schools would be pretty clear about what is the cause and what is the effect in terms of academic excellence.</p>
<p>This is a very interesting question, and one that I have thought about. Internships, research, and publishing opportunities definitely add value. I think that another way to add value would be to provide more feedback in the way of examples. For instance, even top schools have many students who struggle with writing and term papers. Yet, they seldom have the opportunity to read examples of outstanding papers and good papers from their courses. The only chance is to just ask a classmate. Same thing with computer programs, lab reports, math solutions, etc. More teaching by example would help, but the schools feel that it is beneath them and beneath their students.</p>