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Old 05-7-2012, 03:37 PM   #20
Reincarnate
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Default Re: What If You Were a High School Senior?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ScylaX View Post
For somebody that's strictly interested by the knowledge what's the point (strictly concerning the knowledge and the way you get it) in getting in an elite university ? What's the advantage he'll get ? Isn't aiming for excellence just getting a bit... farther from the true aim of studying ?)
If all you're after is knowledge, any good PhD program will do. At the Ivy level, the advantages tend to come in the form of access to resources/financing and the ability to work with ass-blindingly brilliant people. What matters is your dissertation advisor and the committee -- and the school you choose should be based on the prospects of researching something you plan to leverage. Like iironiic said, it's about faculty research interests. You'll find a lot of awesome opportunities at non-Ivies, but that being said, you're still going to see a big cluster of top talent at top-name schools, and sometimes strong knowledge is easier to come by that way.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ScylaX View Post
tl;dr what's the true foundation of this elitism except strict rules and social elitism ?
I want to know how that country works.
I find it utterly sad that people (have to) learn/study their things considering two factors : The money it'll take from you and the social recognition it'll grant you. All is ultimately decided upon economical reasons that doesn't have anything to do with studying and knowledge. Why ? (= not a rhetorical question)
Because shit is competitive and expensive as hell, and can really set the track for, well, the rest of your life in terms of being on the "good" side of the earnings gap. This is especially true in hard times.

Last edited by Reincarnate; 05-7-2012 at 03:40 PM..
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