> In the public's mind one goes to an elite institution for access to elite education
This is one area in which the public’s mind is (for the most part) very, very wrong.
While there are certainly some excellent courses at elite schools, the general quality of instruction is quite low. Professors are not rewarded for good instruction and are not punished for relatively poor instruction. Class-oriented work takes time away from research work, and that’s the stuff that counts.
For students, elite schools offer the following (imho):
- incredible access to research resources
- access to top tier work and research opportunities during school and after graduating
- access to nationally
and internationally powerful social networks
- a highly motivated peer group who often (re)define how high the high bar can be set
Note that some (perhaps many or most) students don’t avail themselves of any of these unique offerings, but some certainly do.
It's worth noting that there are elite schools with uniformly excellent undergraduate instruction quality, but they are not doctoral granting institutions. Williams, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, etc.
They aren't "elite", but regional R2s also can be really well respected (CSU campuses come to mind), and I'm not sure where to file excellent schools with a narrower scope like Rose-Hulman either.
I should have specified HYPS (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford). I think these are the schools that the “public mind” think of as elite. I would personally add a few more to the list, but I think that the “public mind” probably wouldn’t understand why I included them.
Williams and similar schools are colleges. I always tell people to go to colleges if they want great instruction. There are many amazing colleges in the US.
This is one area in which the public’s mind is (for the most part) very, very wrong.
While there are certainly some excellent courses at elite schools, the general quality of instruction is quite low. Professors are not rewarded for good instruction and are not punished for relatively poor instruction. Class-oriented work takes time away from research work, and that’s the stuff that counts.
For students, elite schools offer the following (imho):
- incredible access to research resources
- access to top tier work and research opportunities during school and after graduating
- access to nationally and internationally powerful social networks
- a highly motivated peer group who often (re)define how high the high bar can be set
Note that some (perhaps many or most) students don’t avail themselves of any of these unique offerings, but some certainly do.