/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.7170925]

Is it even worth studying a STEM field if you're not at a top ranked uni?

[Anonymous No.7170930]

Yes.

[Anonymous No.7170932]

>>7170925
yeah your research/internships/whatever are more important than your credentials

[Anonymous No.7170933]

No, you're wasting your time if your Uni isn't at least top 20.

[Anonymous No.7170937]

>>7170932
Good research and good universities go hand in hand

[Anonymous No.7170941]

Depends on your field

for something like engineering it really doesn't matter as long as you have some sort of experience. After your first job, the nobody gives a single shit about where you went to school.

[Anonymous No.7170947]

>>7170925
Why do Americucks care so fucking much about what university they are going? How much you know and how good you are depends entirely on you, not on the university or your teachers.

[Anonymous No.7170950]

>>7170925
For undergrad, it doesn't matter too much. A higher ranked school might help you a bit with grad school applications, but not that terribly much since there are various programs for helping people that don't go to those schools get into graduate programs. For graduate school, where you go matters a great deal. You want to go to a school ranked in the top 20 for your field if you seriously want an academic career. No one wants to hire a researcher from a no-name school unless their graduate research is considered Nobel prize worthy.

[Anonymous No.7170951]

>>7170947
because they are paying tens of thousands of dollars for uni

in europe nobody gives a fuck

[Anonymous No.7170954]

>>7170951
It must suck to be American

[Anonymous No.7170955]

>>7170950
I would also add that it matters greatly who you study under as well. I study an engineering field at Shit State, but the people who come out of the research group I'm in under my specific advisor have all gone to places like NASA, SpaceX, Boeing, national labs (Sandia, Los Alamos, etc.), and the list goes on.

[Anonymous No.7170963]

>>7170925
I went to a private hippy liberal arts school that competed for the top school chosen for "reefer madness".

I got an internship at harvard and a tech job at MGH after I graduated and am currently in a well-funded grad school program.

University ranking may have mattered at one point not too long ago, but the only thing that really matters now is whether it will be fun, a good learning environment, and has enough connections to boost you to where you want to go. It is ALL about connections, and even the most mundane of universities will have some good connections.

[Anonymous No.7170975]

Yes. I've even made the choice to go to a non top 10 school for grad school despite having my own funding via a NSF GRF because I plan to work with a particular person (who is very well-known in my field) on a particular problem that I'm extremely interested in and I believe to have a lot of potential.

[Anonymous No.7170978]

>>7170937
good research is done at bad universities all the time. one of my friends at my school came from kentucky and i came from oklahoma, which are totally lackluster schools, but undergrad research got us to top five

[Anonymous No.7171082]

> tfw going to community college in California
> tfw pretty much guaranteed admission into any UC I want

Feels good to live in the best state.

[Anonymous No.7171090]

>>7171082
>california
>good

[Anonymous No.7171093]

>>7170925
Yeah, don't let the naysayers tell you otherwise. I go to U of Central Florida, a university that normally ranks overall as irrelevant tier, but my major's research department is extremely prolific (millions in research grants each year) and draws faculty and grad students from all corners of the world. Look beyond college ranking and try to find out the reputation of the departments you're interested in. No one school has a monopoly on math and/or science.

[Anonymous No.7171097]

>>7171093
What if I have to go to community college for a year or two? Unfortunately you can't get into a good colleges off of ACT scores alone

[Anonymous No.7171108]

>>7171097
Then so be it, anon. After the admissions process, nobody gives a shit how you did in high school. Go to community college, ace those gen-ed and intro STEM courses, and tear shit up at the state uni. The courses in your 2-year degree will more than likely overlap greatly with those taken by the freshmen/sophomores accepted into state unis. The quality of professors and course material will likely not be very different for you, and in some cases will be better if it's a solid CC. And when you finally transfer, potential labs or internships you're applying to won't discriminate if your transcript shows you're dedicated and always improving. Trust me m8, it's not nearly as big of a deal as you think.

[Anonymous No.7171114]

Depends on the country OP.

[Anonymous No.7171115]

>>7171108
>and in some cases will be better if it's a solid CC.
This really threw me off at my CC, my math teacher and chem teacher were loads better than at uni.
I think it's because CC prof's aren't so concerned about research and publishing as uni prof's.

[Anonymous No.7171117]

>>7171108
Thank you, anon

[Anonymous No.7171126]

>>7171082
Lol I'm from California. I got into a few UC's but passed it up to get out of this shit hole. I'm at WSU Pullman now

[Anonymous No.7171128]

>>7171126
>WSU Pullman
>Good
If you were going to leave California, you might as well have gone UDub.

[Anonymous No.7171131]

>>7171126
>"California"
>"shit hole"
>goes to WSU
good one

[Anonymous No.7171133]

>>7171128
I never said good. I just hate California. Anything to get out. Besides its just for my undergrad. Like a few people said on this thread, undergrad doesn't matter.

[Anonymous No.7171148]

>>7171131
Let me specify. Bakersfield.

[Anonymous No.7171172]

>>7171133
why do you hate cali? I just accepted an offer of admission from stanford, will be spending the next 5 years in the bay area.

[Anonymous No.7171180]

>>7171172
He'll probably say something about how he hates sunshine, beaches, and liberals.

[Anonymous No.7171185]

>>7170925
Yes. People tend to assume just going to a good school = better future. What they don't realize is one of the reasons those schools are so good is they have connections and are well suited for placing their graduates. If you're at a lower-end school then the burden is more on your shoulder: go out and make connections yourself. Go to conferences, local professional meetings, and meet up with faculty at other universities. Sell yourself, not your school. By the time you graduate, you should be in a good position career-wise.

[Anonymous No.7171222]

>>7170963
>I went to a private hippy liberal arts school that competed for the top school chosen for "reefer madness".

Heh, just looked at that list. My undergrad is number 3!

Got into a good funded masters program regardless.

[Anonymous No.7171225]

>>7171222
and shit, my grad school is a paltry #15 on a few years old list.

i'm moving down in the world, it seems

[Anonymous No.7171231]

>>7170925
How much will good internships help for grad schools coming from a non impressive undergrad (good libarts school, but no one cares). I have a middling (3.6 GPA) but have a fellowship this summer with a guy at Columbia who is in the National Academy of Science; if I don't fuck up and get a good rec, will that save me?

[Anonymous No.7171304]

>>7171231
What kind of grade inflation is going on where 3.6 is a "middling" GPA? Or are you on a 5.0 system?

[Anonymous No.7172376]

>>7170925

Do you want to stay in academia? For undergrad, ranking doesn't matter. For grad school, your advisor's reputation is more important than your university's ranking. You'd be much better off working for a full professor who, say, holds an endowed professorship at State U. than an assistant professor at Harvard.

If you leave academia -- and don't do R&D at a famed corporation, such as IBM or Genentech, that stresses basic research -- your university's prestige will absolutely matter. In consulting or finance or corporate or policy or whatever, saying you have a PhD from Harvard or Stanford will carry more weight than saying you have a PhD from State U.

[Anonymous No.7172384]

>>7172376
>You'd be much better off working for a full professor who, say, holds an endowed professorship at State U. than an assistant professor at Harvard.

really? I guess it depends that professor at State U. can write some bomb letters of rec as well

[Anonymous No.7172399]

>>7172384

I would make that argument.

In academia, a prominent, well-connected PI from State U. with academy memberships (AAS, NAS, etc.) and editorial board seats on journals will take you further than a young PI at a more famous institution.

[Anonymous No.7172500]

>>7170947
>about what university they are going
Because they're worried they'll end up having grammar as bad as yours.

Also, there is a difference in quality, though not as important as many believe.

Finally, Americans don't typically use the term uni. I don't think this is American.

[Anonymous No.7172524]

>>7170925
Yes, a top uni is completely worth it, and this is coming from someone who went to a shitty undergrad school and is now in a much better ranked place for grad school. The environment (the fellow students), the amount of opportunities (be it research or internships wise), and that the rigor of the classes just aren't the same. All things being equal, it is also incredibly easier to get into MIT or Stanford for grad school coming from a top 20 uni than it is coming from a rank 300 uni. Ranking might not be everything for undergrad, but it is for grad school.