/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.12762263]

How much do university rankings matter?

[Anonymous No.12762272]

They give a general idea, but its better to look at by subject and area but even that can be skewed by factors and bias. If your thinking of doing a course its probably better to look at the module coordinators and staff and look at the papers they've published and there reputation among the scientific community.

[Anonymous No.12762278]

it mostly matters when you decide to work in academia, better rank=better funded.

[Anonymous No.12762353]

>>12762263
If you're looking to graduate, you'll have about a 6% better shot at finding employment going to a top University. If you go to study physics at a Uni like Kent, you're still learning the same physics you would have learned had you gone to Cambridge or Oxford.

[Anonymous No.12762355]

>>12762263
University is a scam, do not waste your time and money.
Go on /pol/ and /x/ if you want to learn about truth, or watch youtube videos if you need maths or physics lessons.

[Anonymous No.12762418]

>>12762263
So my mom can print it out and put it on the refrigerator with a magnet.

[Anonymous No.12762419]

>>12762263
Depends entirely on your situation
See >>12762353
Also >>12762355 is right its a scam but its one we are forced to participate in if we want a good job someday

[Anonymous No.12762478]

>>12762263
fuckal if your wallet dicks big enough.

[Anonymous No.12762512]

>>12762355
>>12762419
>t. failed high school algebra

[Anonymous No.12762517]

>>12762353
I went to a top university (UCLA), and haven't gone as far career-wise as my brother, who went to a shit-tier one.

6% sounds about right.

Choosing the right major makes a bigger difference. Putting together a realistic career plan also helps. Hiring a career consultant to plan your promotion path is probably worth the money too, though I haven't done it.

The top university helps you feel a little better about yourself though. Sometimes.

[Anonymous No.12762658]

Unrelated but its best thread to ask this question anyways
Is elite uni necessary if I want to get a good job as a quant or at wall street? Or is it possible to achieve kt with a degree from avarage uni?

[Anonymous No.12762678]

>>12762355
>Go on /pol/ and /x/ if you want to learn about truth

[Anonymous No.12765039]

>>12762263
Rank doesn't matter much. What you make of your time at the uni matters much more. Higher ranked universities tend to give more of a chance to succeed, but tons of notable people come from unremarkable colleges. I only like boasting about my college's rank because it's in the top 10 and I'm a loser with nothing else going for him in his life.

[Anonymous No.12765090]

>>12762517
>went to a top university (UCLA)
l.m.a.o.

t. also went to ucla

[Anonymous No.12765180]

>>12762263
Quite a lot if you want to brag on /sci/, not much otherwise

[Anonymous No.12765238]

Better universities have more resources for you to succeed dramatically IF YOU ARE DRIVEN/MOTIVATED TO USE THEM.
People become lazy bums from Harvard all the time. But a motivated and talented student who goes to Kansas University will not have the same chance of success as one that goes to Harvard.

[Anonymous No.12765366]

Where is the cut off for a good university?
20? 50?

[Anonymous No.12765373]

University is a Jewish scam.

[Anonymous No.12765393]

>>12762353

This just isn't true. The difficulty of university syllabi scales with the ability of its pupils. It is also somewhat determined (at least, the breadth of courses) by the strength of its research department in the later years. A maths degree from Hull with have much easier exams than one from Cambridge.

[Anonymous No.12765401]

>>12762263

University ranking is tricky. There are no right answers, it depends what you're looking for. However, they are pretty good at indicating roughly where universities stand relative to eachother. A university at number 5 is probably going to be stronger than a university at number 50, but not necessarily much stronger than one at number 10.

Academics have their own view of how good each university is. For maths in the UK, the opinion is generally COWI, Cambridge/Oxford/Warwick/Imperial College London (the exact order varies, sometimes it's in this order, other times C > W > O > I, etc.) but this is not often replicated in league tables because the student satisfaction of W/I doesn't match up with the likes of St. Andrews and Durham, which have narrower and "easier" courses.

Plenty of people sperg about precise rankings, but it's not that much of a big deal if you're not that fussy about course content, which unfortunately many are not.

[Anonymous No.12765403]

>>12765401

tl;dr if it's the course you're worried about, ask professors. If it's the job at the end it doesn't really matter a whole lot, but you could ask employers.

[Anonymous No.12765419]

Dunno, I go in a literally who university of a third world country in south america because I don't have choice

[Anonymous No.12765425]

>>12762272
How can I tell if their papers and reputation are good?

[Anonymous No.12765436]

>>12765419
Let’s go to Russia anon. Take TOEFL and or GRE and participate. Leave your shitty Latin American degree for a russian one

[Anonymous No.12765453]

rankings are a meme, all that matters are resources, legal teams and quality research output

[Anonymous No.12765468]

>>12762263
Go to a big reputable wealthy private uni to cast a big net, think USC, NYU.
Problem with public uni like UCLA, theyre for plebs, your 4.0 GPA UCLA peer isnt a heiress or son to a oil sheik.

[Anonymous No.12765503]

They aren't worth stressing over. If you're worried about missing out on something just read a book.

[Anonymous No.12766115]

>>12765090
>UCLA
Lol well as a fellow bruin I know how you feel; it's not Harvard. But I do get that "Oh you went to UCLA!" reaction from time to time from more regular people. We're just about always ranked in the top 20 globally and at the end of the day a small percent of people get to have that.

I encourage you not to think of yourself as super elite, but keep in mind that a lot of people would love to have your degree. Denigrating it without context is sort of an insult to them.

And anyway, despite the sometimes positive reactions, I stand by my earlier post - it doesn't make much difference. No one goes "Oh he was smart once better give him a promotion." They care more about what you do after.

[Anonymous No.12766123]

>>12765468
Does networking your way into a career really work for anyone?

I guess I didn't go to USC so I can't say, but I have my doubts.

[Anonymous No.12766128]

>>12765425
Number of citations, the journal it was in, how many high number citations they get, whether they are on the editing board of a peer-review journal, have a high position on a scientific society, how many funding grants or awards they’ve won.

[Anonymous No.12766522]

>>12762658
It can definitely be possible. Best way is by getting a summer internship and securing a full-time offer afterwards. They won't put you in quant usually, but you can switch around divisions pretty easily. You'll need to have internships for this though.

>t.summer intern at one of the big firms that will join full-time after graduation

[Anonymous No.12766639]

>>12766123
>Exec has a daughter that attends those /fa/ schools
>Company now has an informal recruiting pipeline for that school
This isn't networking, this is in-group bias.

[Anonymous No.12766840]

>>12765393
https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2020/11/30/burton-elite-universities-are-overrated/
The fact that the exams are harder in Cambridge as opposed to Hull just don't matter to employers that much, probably because you can find brilliant people at any University. And even if going to Cambridge shows that you're the smartest candidate, employers may hire a less intelligent candidate if they have the necessary skills for the job - e.g. teamwork.

[Anonymous No.12766878]

>>12762263
Not much. Being at the top something of a country/region/the world obviously is a positive sign for a school, and, of course, it's good to brag about your uni's ranking. But rankings aren't relevant at all in academia or in industry, and they're not even good at rating universities. The THE is particularly terrible for universities that deviate from the anglo university standard, giving laughable results in such cases. In the end, you can't compare MIT and Polytechnique as if they trying to accomplish the exact same thing.

For me, I sometimes consult rankings when for some reason a school which I know nothing about comes up. Although it's very vague information, being ranked 15th in its country or absent from the ranking tells a few things about an institution, as does being top 5 in a certain field.

[Anonymous No.12766884]

>>12765419
basado tecermundista

[Anonymous No.12767016]

>>12766840

I never said it did, I said in the next post your uni doesn't really matter for jobs. The sole purpose of going to university shouldn't just be for the job at the end. If someone cares about what they're learning, (a minority) as opposed to just getting a 2:1 or higher at the end, then generally speaking they should look at the best universities that they can, that caters to their interests.

Imo university should be more exclusive to people with genuine academic interest. It's sad that many jobs require a degree when they really shouldn't.

[Anonymous No.12768686]

>>12766123
I go to USC and the anon in >>12766639
is right. If you're not already in that circle of people or come from a normal background it can be pretty hard to break into it. That being said, I find the networking for things such as academia and research are top-notch here, but I can't imagine being a business student.

[Anonymous No.12768725]

Even Elon Musk agrees college is a meme and anything can be self taught.

For example, compare anyone who leaned art from art school to someone self taught. Then apply it to literally any other subject

[Anonymous No.12768740]

>>12765436
I don't know where that anon was from but Latin America has plenty of good universities.

[Anonymous No.12768822]

>>12768725
They won't hire you if you're "self-taught".

[Anonymous No.12768853]

>>12762355
Lemmings jumping off a cliff was a lie started by Disney that people followed... like lemmings

[Anonymous No.12769051]

>>12765453
...which is what the rankings are based on

[Anonymous No.12769374]

>>12762517
>top university
>overcrowded public school

sorry bud

[Anonymous No.12769388]

>>12765090
>>12769374
UCLA is legit, don't listen to these anons

[Anonymous No.12769402]

>>12765468
USC and NYU are public and good but not great

[Anonymous No.12769409]

>>12768725
How many engineers at Tesla/SpaceX did not go to college? Musk can say whatever he wants.

[Anonymous No.12769684]

>>12769402
they're both private, what are you talking about?

[Anonymous No.12769698]

>>12762355

[Anonymous No.12769699]

>>12769409
I can just imagine the nerds who take his advice on college seriously. Especially more funny when you keep in mind the guy graduated from an Ivy League

[Anonymous No.12769779]

>>12762355
I'm actually crying.

[Anonymous No.12769963]

Autism Tier:
MIT/Caltech

God Tier:
Harvard

Decent Tier:
Any other Ivy League

Bong Tier:
Oxford

Shit tier:
UCLA/Berkley

Oh shit what the fuck are you doing tier:
Stanford

[Anonymous No.12770599]

>>12769402
>t. Retarded international student
Its not about being great for you bug minded ppl

[Mr. Filter No.12770664]

Well, I'm doing great. I got a Ged, a years pay saved, lots of gold, a chest of silver and 3 months of food. I now looking at investments and a rental home.

Also I do scientific work and math as a hobby. I learned it my self. So far I discovered quantum gravity and a G.U.T. theory all testable with simple experiment's. I'm likely the only person who know how blackholes work and how to make them. I've been writing it down but likely I leave it to some university when I die.

[Anonymous No.12770678]

>>12762353
As someone who has been on the IoP accrediatation side of things, no you're not. You're getting less physics in total, easier content, and typically quite a few content short-cuts that are factually incoherent but simplify material.

I 100% agree that Russel group is a meme, no quality associated with it. For Physics though, Ox and Cam are substantially better than most others. Imperial are in theory but their pedagogy is poor. The rising star of second-tier universities is Loughborough, they're currently implementing a new degree programme (having spent a few years feeding in to accreditation reqs) and it's something special. They're fulfilling some textbook deals at the same time to create a very coherent course, and content wise will be up there with IC, if not better. Unfortunately they'll never get the students to show it off, but it'll be the hidden gem physics uni for a while.

[Anonymous No.12771647]

>>12765453
You're a retard

[Anonymous No.12771753]

I know there is a correlation between going to a good uni and becoming really fucking rich and successful, but at the same time I know Yale and Harvard grads who cant find a job for shit

[Anonymous No.12771767]

>>12765401
>St. Andrews
studied here, incredible place, loved every second

[Anonymous No.12771777]

>>12771767
Fuck off posh cunt

[Anonymous No.12771819]

>>12771777
i am a refugee I make less than 10k/year, faggot
lots of push ppl at St andrews tho

[Anonymous No.12771848]

>>12771819
>>12771777
Tell me Bongs, how do I get into Oxford for graduate studies?

[Anonymous No.12771857]

>>12771819
How'd you manage to get into St. Andrews then?
>>12771848
Don't know why you want to. If you're good enough for Oxford you should go to America

[Anonymous No.12771868]

>>12762263
mid tier unis are better quality, higher tier ones are pretty bad but at least if you make it through the shit fest you get good job prospects, expect you don't because you needed networks and you were busy being an autist and aren't rich.
bottom tier ones are barely employable and are shitty for education.

[Anonymous No.12771871]

>>12771848
not a bong
>>12771857
i have refugee status because i inherited it from my father.
10k a year because i came back to my shithole country in southern europe

got into St Andrews on top grades

[Anonymous No.12771877]

>>12762355
holy based.
>>12762418
lucky.
my mom didn't do that for mine.

[Anonymous No.12771878]

>>12762263
For most natural science undergrads in the US, basically not at all unless the school is exceptionally shit. For grad programs yeah it matters for avialable resources

[Anonymous No.12771890]

>>12771767

Yup, I know people that go there. But they are generally not as academically strong as Oxbridge, no matter what league tables may suggest, and rankings tend to give the false impression they are.

Whether that matters to you is up to you. Won't matter to most people, but I think that's independent of my point.

[Anonymous No.12771916]

>>12769963

Where's Cambridge?

[Anonymous No.12771919]

>>12771890
>not as academically strong as Oxbridge
you mean the content of the courses isn't as in depth or the research outpout isn't as great?
Keep in mind St Andrews has 5 times less students than either oxbridge unis.

[Anonymous No.12771927]

>>12770678

What I find funny is that people act like the RG is Ivy League, literally contains about a sixth of the universities in this country.

[Anonymous No.12771963]

>>12771919

Both of those things really. In terms of Scottish universities, I've always thought it's St. Andrews if you want the experience and Edinburgh for the academics. Might be inaccurate, ngl I only glanced over Scottish universities. (my friends applied so I looked, course didn't really match up so I didn't look further)

I might be being unfair since I was comparing it against my current university, which has a large research department and a pretty wide range of options.

[Anonymous No.12772019]

>>12771963
>St. Andrews if you want the experience
that is so true, i coom every time i think of my years there. It was just sublime. I loved it.

whats your current uni?

[Anonymous No.12772415]

>>12772019

one of COWI.

[Anonymous No.12773960]

>>12769409
Thats true anon

[Anonymous No.12774119]

>>12769963
>Dartmouth and Princeton are equivalent

[Anonymous No.12774546]

>>12769963
Elder God Tier:
San Francisco Art Institute

Divine Mastery tier:
Full Sail University

Divine Enlightenment tier:
Your local community college

[Anonymous No.12776107]

>>12768686
I know USC isnt Harvard but how does it stack up? I know its a good school for getting laid is all.

[Anonymous No.12776116]

>tfw in a third rate uni that I hate