Posted:
Originally posted by: rutumodi915
Aren't some people really smart on paper and then they are these really geeky kind who can not speak in public?
Atleast in my profession, if one is successful, NO😊. We grind our incoming graduate students and that certainly helps us retain our top spot in medical research. I would not comment on other professions due to sheer lack of hands-on experience. In fact, several extremely brilliant Eastern Asians fail to receive the accolade and welcome as faculty in top notch schools unless they break the communication barrier. Once in it, nothing can stop them.
If at all, I admit to see some exceptions made with FOREIGNERS who don't have a command on English and hence it appear really geaky smart but cannot speak in public.
Again, in few fields like mine, education matters, else one won't be admitted to do a certain job 😛 and in some areas (Funding @ NIH), institute name matters too. If I send the same grant from another university, I am not sure if it will receive equally welcoming arms as my current letterhead receives! Unfair, but so is life. One has to accept and move on!
Also Javz was asking if one should choose a mediocore school if it gives a big scholarship in an Honors Program over the mad expensive ivies? I would rather let the experiences ones answer the pros and cons for this one. Someone please throw your opinions on this!
I can speak for my cousin who studied here. Yes, Stanford would have been an expensive choice as opposed to UC system. He did not go to Stanford, but went to Berkeley instead and yet eventually made it to a top notch financial firm in the USA. I think it really depends on one's interests and requirements based on furure career opportunities!
If the sole purpose for parents is to BRAG (very conspicuous in ceratin immigrant communities), I pity them and their kids. I believe the quality of especially undergrad education could not vary so much as to affect lives!
In terms of specializing further, university brand goes a long way! - again depending on the career chosen..
isn't Bill Gates a drop out? I know few IT people who don't have a degree, few finance firm employees with no commerce background. A nurse from Ahmedabad, immigrated to the USA, was a door monitor at UCSF for 2 years and now is CPA. I have no clue how certain systems work and how much education matters in some professions. I am amazed by the diversity in the USA. In India, we get seggregated early on.. Opportunities are great and non-limiting here!
32