Re:Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh end use of lega...
by jjav on Thursday July 20, 2023 @01:31AM
(#36797171)
> The more prestigious schools have more budget to hire better professors
The prestigious schools are interested in hiring the best researchers. They don't much care how good they are as teachers.
Some are great, many are terrible teachers. And you don't get to see them much since all appointments are with TA kids anyway.
At the unknown schools the professors are there to teach and do little or no meaningful research so the are judged based on teaching ability, not grant-pulling fame. So they are on average much better teachers.
If you want an academic career, you need to hook with advisors who are famous in the field to get your early papers connected to their fame. But if you just want to learn and go into industry, you're better off with good teacher professors at the no-name school.
I did both, having a degree from a school you've never heard of (but is very good) and a degree from a top-1 (or top-3 depending on your biases) university. At the top university I had an advisor who was well-known in our field, which was fun. But I didn't go into research or academics so that advisor connection didn't do anything for my career. And he was so busy with grant and research work I only got to talk to him once a month.
In terms of learning I learned more from the unknown-name school where the professors were dedicated to teaching and were happy to chat about projects every day.
The prestigious schools are interested in hiring the best researchers. They don't much care how good they are as teachers.
Some are great, many are terrible teachers. And you don't get to see them much since all appointments are with TA kids anyway.
At the unknown schools the professors are there to teach and do little or no meaningful research so the are judged based on teaching ability, not grant-pulling fame. So they are on average much better teachers.
If you want an academic career, you need to hook with advisors who are famous in the field to get your early papers connected to their fame. But if you just want to learn and go into industry, you're better off with good teacher professors at the no-name school.
I did both, having a degree from a school you've never heard of (but is very good) and a degree from a top-1 (or top-3 depending on your biases) university. At the top university I had an advisor who was well-known in our field, which was fun. But I didn't go into research or academics so that advisor connection didn't do anything for my career. And he was so busy with grant and research work I only got to talk to him once a month.
In terms of learning I learned more from the unknown-name school where the professors were dedicated to teaching and were happy to chat about projects every day.