Tahar Joblis wrote:Hypothesis #1: Wherever students are, they think they could be somewhere "better," and unless they're actually struggling, it's all "bullshit" and lax standards, not because of lack of rigor, but because folks gotta have something to gripe about. And the actual standards in use may not have much to do with the reputation of the school or department.
Not necessarily true. At my university, I don't know of anyone who thinks they could be somewhere 'better', or that the standards are lax. On the other hand, I am at a special case.
Tahar Joblis wrote:Hypothesis #2: The typical baccalaureate degree-seeker is if anything better off going to a university that isn't research-oriented.
Almost certainly true.
Edit: Specifically, the typical degree student will likely not get the best education at a university which is only known for its research, because that doesn't necessarily correlate with teaching ability. Once one is doing graduate or postgraduate work, that's quite a different matter, but for an undergraduate degree, the important thing is how well you'll be taught the basics, not how far the university is on the cutting edge.