Why is Brown not as highly ranked on US News?

geoforce221
Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:32:07 +0000

" Just how much of the benefits of a strong research base will actually trickle down to undergrads? (this is not a challenge, this is a serious question)"

Depends on the school and the undergrad, I suppose. But if you work in a lab, you’ll be working right alongside PIs, graduate students and post-docs, for whom these benefits were directly intended.

“Do undergrads really need Nobel Prize winning professors in order to master a field and master it well? With the advent of the internet, knowledge travels quite fast…”

They don’t NEED it. Will your experience under a Nobelist PI be different from a middle of the road PI? You bet it will. If you thrive in a high-profile lab will it help you down the road much more? Yes, definitely.

“Do undergrads really need state-of-the-art-research facilities?”

Your first question and the previous question underscore a fundamental misunderstanding about the research process. You don’t NEED fancy equipment to do research, or to learn how to do research. The real question you should be asking is “Does it help?” And the answer is yes, it does. And the “depth” of a research project doesn’t scale with how state-of-the-art the required facilities are, it scales with innovation and creativity.

“Could they actually be doing research that is so in-depth as to require such facilities?”

Yes, undergrads can and do participate in research that heavily benefits from state-of-the-art facilities. Just because you’re an undergrad doesn’t mean you won’t be part of a research team that’s on the cutting edge, esp if you’re proactive and know how to work.