OT: Some Love for the "U"

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coolhandgopher

coolhandgopher

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I noticed this the other day when Pres. Kaler posted it on his Twitter feed. The funny thing is that, in one of her earlier posts, she more or less said that she would only attend the U out of a sense of obligation and really has no true interest in doing so. Then reading the above-referenced post in sequence makes it seem as though she were being disingenuous in one or the other (or both).
 

Nice blog, but the arrogance of some the responders is mind boggling. An education is an education is an education. It amazes me how people want to influence the decisions of others through their own prism. This is a young woman with her head on straight and no matter where she goes, she will be an asset to that community. Education is the most overpriced commodity in the marketplace today and it's nice to see a kid from Minnetonka realizing that and not falling into the status trap that clearly some of her peers are falling into.
 

Holy Man said:
Nice blog, but the arrogance of some the responders is mind boggling. An education is an education is an education. It amazes me how people want to influence the decisions of others through their own prism. This is a young woman with her head on straight and no matter where she goes, she will be an asset to that community. Education is the most overpriced commodity in the marketplace today and it's nice to see a kid from Minnetonka realizing that and not falling into the status trap that clearly some of her peers are falling into.
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"...falling into the status trap..." - this from a Hill Murray grad.

Just giving you a hard time, Holy Man.
 

I read through some of the comments too. I get a kick out of some people saying that their $50,000/year small liberal arts degree is worth 5x times my Big Ten engineering degree. I did go to Hopkins, and that same mentality was very present 13 years ago.
 


Some of the pompous comments made by the Ivy League/private school crowd were laughable, but I think they were forwarded by people who need to convince themselves that the immense dollars they spent on their college education is really that much more valuable.

Dp, I didn't see her earlier blog, so I can't really comment upon it, but I work with many high school seniors whose mindset vacillates wildly from September to May, so I don't know that she's necessarily disingenuous but instead processing her thoughts out loud to a wide audience.
 

coolhandgopher said:
Dp, I didn't see her earlier blog, so I can't really comment upon it, but I work with many high school seniors whose mindset vacillates wildly from September to May, so I don't know that she's necessarily disingenuous but instead processing her thoughts out loud to a wide audience.
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Post from February 3, 2012:

"Then there’s the University of Minnesota. Obviously, this school makes the most monetary sense, and it’s also where I want to attend vet school. However, I was on the campus last Friday night for a swim meet, walking with my friend, and I simply commented 'I could go here.' She turned, stared at me, and said, 'That’s it?'

I had spoken in my flattest monotone, almost disbelieving that this school was an option. I feel no excitement about the University of Minnesota, only the logical compulsion that I should attend."

Roughly six weeks later, from March 21, 2012, the post that you referenced in the OP:

"I have talked on the phone with and toured the University of Minnesota more times than I can count, and each time I go back, I am astounded by what the school has to offer. The slogan 'driven to discover' truly encompasses the whole university. It has an extensive honors program, complete with optional housing and mandatory advisers. Minnesota spends more than $600 million every year on research, and I have a guaranteed spot as a freshman in a lab. It has the Mayo Clinic on campus, which is world renowned. Even the study-abroad program is ranked in the top three in the country. I look at this list of accomplishments, and wonder, what more can an Ivy League school offer me?"

I guess the lesson for her here is don't say things that are difficult/impossible to take back, especially when your audience is potentially every person on Earth with internet access.
 

Gold Vision said:
I read through some of the comments too. I get a kick out of some people saying that their $50,000/year small liberal arts degree is worth 5x times my Big Ten engineering degree. I did go to Hopkins, and that same mentality was very present 13 years ago.
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For some people, that may have been true. They may have made necessary and meaningful connections during their time at Macalester, Hamline or St. Olaf. Those folks may not have made those connections at the U, so for them, as a matter of perception, the value is real.

Bottom line is this though: You reap what you sow. You get out of your education, public, private, big or small, exactly what you put into it.

I feel good about this young blogger's chances wherever she ends up. Her level of self-awareness and ability to reason bode well for her future, wherever that may be.

Go Gophers!
 

Rouser4eVA said:
For some people, that may have been true. They may have made necessary and meaningful connections during their time at Macalester, Hamline or St. Olaf. Those folks may not have made those connections at the U, so for them, as a matter of perception, the value is real.

Bottom line is this though: You reap what you sow. You get out of your education, public, private, big or small, exactly what you put into it.

I feel good about this young blogger's chances wherever she ends up. Her level of self-awareness and ability to reason bode well for her future, wherever that may be.

Go Gophers!
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This, this, this. It's never what you know, it's who you know. As a recent grad I have a real hard time listening to the people wanting student loan reimbursements and saying that they got nothing out of their education besides a piece of paper (that's another debate for another time). I put all of that on the student for not taking chances, joining groups, etc. to better themselves.

I love to bring up is that students who get involved in extracurricular activities, significantly builds connectivity to their university, leads to significantly higher retention rates/graduation rates and higher GPAs. You'll get way more out of your education than you put in if you take advantage of the endless opportunities given to you. Say yes, not no, because you can never score if you don't shoot the ball.
 



Where ever people decide to go to school, they should have all the facts. Money is an important factor, but not the only factor. The University of Minnesota is an excellent school, you can get a great education here. If you want what the private school offers, by all means go there. Just make sure you understand what is really being offererd.
 

CrocShots said:
This, this, this. It's never what you know, it's who you know. As a recent grad I have a real hard time listening to the people wanting student loan reimbursements and saying that they got nothing out of their education besides a piece of paper (that's another debate for another time). I put all of that on the student for not taking chances, joining groups, etc. to better themselves.

I love to bring up is that students who get involved in extracurricular activities, significantly builds connectivity to their university, leads to significantly higher retention rates/graduation rates and higher GPAs. You'll get way more out of your education than you put in if you take advantage of the endless opportunities given to you. Say yes, not no, because you can never score if you don't shoot the ball.
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Well, it depends what they majored in as well. There are some majors that are just useless and only certain people ever actually succeed with them (such as theater). Also, I've heard a lot of seniors where I'm at school that got art degrees saying they have no idea what kind of jobs you can get with something like a studio art degree. There is a bit more to it than how you did in school, some majors are just useless.

RodentRampage said:
Where ever people decide to go to school, they should have all the facts. Money is an important factor, but not the only factor. The University of Minnesota is an excellent school, you can get a great education here. If you want what the private school offers, by all means go there. Just make sure you understand what is really being offererd.
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I can not agree with this enough. I chose to go to a private school because they really talked themselves up more than other schools I was considering, but I didn't do the due diligence to discover it was just talk.
 

Rouser4eVA said:
For some people, that may have been true. They may have made necessary and meaningful connections during their time at Macalester, Hamline or St. Olaf. Those folks may not have made those connections at the U, so for them, as a matter of perception, the value is real.

Bottom line is this though: You reap what you sow. You get out of your education, public, private, big or small, exactly what you put into it.

I feel good about this young blogger's chances wherever she ends up. Her level of self-awareness and ability to reason bode well for her future, wherever that may be.

Go Gophers!
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I agree with pretty much everything you said regarding connections. Through all of the clubs and societies at the U, there are plenty of ways to network, it just may take a little more investigation. My main point though is that you can't get an engineering degree at a liberal arts school. So looking down at a U graduate with a science or engineering degree doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Big Ten Engineering schools are pretty top notch from top to bottom.
 

Gold Vision said:
I agree with pretty much everything you said regarding connections. Through all of the clubs and societies at the U, there are plenty of ways to network, it just may take a little more investigation. My main point though is that you can't get an engineering degree at a liberal arts school. So looking down at a U graduate with a science or engineering degree doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Big Ten Engineering schools are pretty top notch from top to bottom.
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You can't even get a Bachelor's of Science even if you are a major in the science department (my school offers physics, chemistry, biology, etc. as majors, but they are all BA's)
 



zambam said:
You can't even get a Bachelor's of Science even if you are a major in the science department (my school offers physics, chemistry, biology, etc. as majors, but they are all BA's)
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A BA vs a BS is somewhat trivial these days. I went to a MNSCU school and received a BA in Biology and Chemistry. The BA in chemistry was really a glorified minor, but the BA in biology was the equivalent of a BS. I asked the Biology Department Chair why the BA verbage and she told me that it was established that way, and they never have changed it. The coursework associated is really what matters and traditionally in the sciences, your career choice will require appropriate coursework more than "just the degree" that seems to reign in some other majors.


As far as the value of the degree from different universities, I have many mixed feelings. I attended a MIAC for one semester and found it to be incredibly silly and gluttonous for me to spend 35k a year for undergrad when I knew I would be going to further education. I transferred to a MNSCU (which I will admit is not exactly an elite university), and paid less in 3.5 years than I did in one semester at the MIAC. I applied to four veterinary schools in all parts of the country and was accepted into them all and have found myself to be at the very least on-par educationally than many of my IVY-league undergrad colleagues. My overall opinion from my travels: you get what you put in, and the cream usually rises to the top. You make your own opportunities and you can achieve nearly anything from anywhere, if you are willing to put the time in and work hard.

My rant is over and I wish this young lady the best in the future. Hope to have you as a colleague in 8 or 9 years.
 

Thanks for posting her earlier blog entry dpodoll. I agree with what you posit, she'll likely learn from this experience to be cautious with what she posts. I would guess that at the point she wrote the earlier post, she was feeling a bit of college search fatigue.
 

For various reasons none of my kids ended up at the U, but all of them considered it. Each of them took a campus tour and sat in on a class. While my wife and I never sat in on a class at any of the schools that they visited (why would we!!??) we did take the tours and the U easily did the best job of presenting itself of any of the schools that they considered. I don't say that out of home state bias because the first time we "officially" visited the campus it surprised me. Subsequent visits were also of high quality.
 

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