Stanford vs Oregon academics

General rule west of the Mississippi is, if you want world class learning attend Claremont colleges, UC System, USC, Cal Tech, and Stanford. But you can always get a quality education at hundreds of other superb schools as well west of the Mississippi.

Most people only major in ONE thing so it doesn't matter which school has "more good stuff". All that matters is which is better for your major.

And what is the difference between a class like calc 3 at Stanford vs at Oregon. The math doesn't change!

You had to axe. 1/2 of UO Math Dept staff in Deady teach high school level courses. The other half are Jewish emigrees from Russia who have a great rep. At world level schools they don't offer high school courses on campus.

The main diff at the undergrad level is that the top institutions generally have only a midterm and final (no quizzes, no homework). And exam questions are all brand new, never before seen, crafted by committees of grad students during the semester (NOT teach-to-the-test).

All I know is that Cayla Hatton is smart enough to know which one is better. That girl can fly. Look out, Shalane. She's coming for you in 2013.

Axe me or is is Aks me wrote:

The main diff at the undergrad level is that the top institutions generally have only a midterm and final (no quizzes, no homework). And exam questions are all brand new, never before seen, crafted by committees of grad students during the semester (NOT teach-to-the-test).

False. Most Stanford classes have hella psets. Here are examples of some homework for the two most popular classes at Stanford (according to the enrollment statistics for non-compulsory classes) and they require no prerequisites:

Math 51 Linear Algebra...

CS 106X Programming Abstractions...

Also, test/exams are not "brand new" anywhere. I mean, really, there are only five different kinds of questions that a professor will ask you to solve in any given technical field. Some people just never recognize this.

Ex. Say you have a point charge q that is a distance z away from radius r..., We are given a Markov chain on a state space E = (0; 1), with

transition matrix..., Optimize xxx given the scenario xxx and initial conditions xxx, etc. <-- you can even predict the language they'll use

College chick, I guess it's safe to assume you're some sort of math or engineering major?

HW is optional & doesn't count. If you meet with a TA she can help. Frat buds are the best tutors though. Tests are all unique at the top schools and at select JCs that directly feed the top. I had a part time job at nearby JC down the freeway while in grad school. Ask your counselor for a list of California Community Colleges that are synced up with top schools).

Simply by the numbers, US News has Oregon at #101 among National Universities, tied with such academic powerhouses as Florida State, North Carolina State, Dayton, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, and the University of the Pacific, most of whom seem to place a disproportionate emphasis on sports compared to academics. Not quite as bad as LSU, but not far from it.

By comparison, US News has Stanford, UC Berkeley, USC, and UCLA ranked #5, 21, 23, and 25.

I guess if you can't get into St. Louis University, Alabama, Auburn, or the University of San Diego, you become a Duck.

Shanghai Rankings are not commercial and have no advertisers.

#2 Stanford

#4 Berkeley

#6 Cal Tech

#12 UCLA

#15 UCSD

#16 UW

#17 UCSF

#32 CU

#33 UCSB

#46 USC

#48 UCD UCI (tie)

#78 ASU

#79 Utah

#80 UA

Shanghai Rankings (non commercial, no advertisers).

PAC-12, & west:

#2 Stanford

#4 Berkeley

#6 Cal Tech

#12 UCLA

#15 UCSD

#16 UW

#17 UCSF

#32 CU

#33 UCSB

#46 USC

#48 UCD UCI (tie)

#78 ASU

#79 Utah

#80 UA

WSU, OSU, UO are not ranked

As a successful entrepreneur and businessman, I don't care what college a person graduates from as long as they have a degree.

If I'm interviewing an individual with a degree from Chico State versus a degree from Harvard, and the person from Chico State does better in the interview, guess what? Chico State gets the job.

You kids need not think that going to the best college will get you the better job. Far from it. And if you think that way, you're wasting your time, and more importantly your parent's money.

Bottom line, just get a degree from any school. It's all about personality and personal drive in today's world. If you have it, you have it. If you don't, no money or top name school in the nation will buy it for you.

The historic trendline shows western states are in a virtual tie with northeast schools and will soon overtaking the northeast for best schools in the world. Very imptressive, indeed.

Dr. Cho Wong tongue wrote:

As a successful entrepreneur and businessman, I don't care what college a person graduates from as long as they have a degree.

If I'm interviewing an individual with a degree from Chico State versus a degree from Harvard, and the person from Chico State does better in the interview, guess what? Chico State gets the job.

You kids need not think that going to the best college will get you the better job. Far from it. And if you think that way, you're wasting your time, and more importantly your parent's money.

Bottom line, just get a degree from any school. It's all about personality and personal drive in today's world. If you have it, you have it. If you don't, no money or top name school in the nation will buy it for you.

Yes, but I'll bet Harvard is better prepared for the interview! There's a reason why better education is better.

My general rule: if a university has to have an "honors college", it's not a great school (overall).

How is the education at Harvard better if the same material is taught in the same class at a different school? Math is math.

Explainee wrote:

How is the education at Harvard better if the same material is taught in the same class at a different school? Math is math.

It is not taught the same, due to a different set of students. A smarter and better prepared student body will enable an instructor to teach more challenging concepts. The better students will demand a faster pace and will cover more in the semester. However, the distinction seems small once you start comparing major institutions, Kansas vs. Georgetown. Rather than Harvard vs. Bloomsburg(Pa).

Depending on what you want to do, the difference between a top university and random state school (UO) is huge.

Want to do I-Banking (GS, JPM) or Consulting (MBB)? Those places only recruit at top 10-type schools (targets). Effectively impossible to get there from UO. And if by some miracle you end up there after UO, you would have been there sooner from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, etc.

So yeah "math is math," but there's this little thing called prestige that matters in certain circles. And those circles pay $$$$.

Oh and to the entrepreneur who said they'd hire the Chico kid over the Harvard kid:

You have to remember that the college an applicant attends is a signaling mechanism for their ENTIRE life before they went to college; i.e. there is a reason the Harvard kid was able to go to Harvard and the Chico kid had to go to Chico. Granted, that reason may be the Harvard kid's wealthy uncle or the Chico kid's need to stay home near his sick mother, but 9 times out of 10 the Harvard kid is just better. That's how the world works.

It is not taught the same, due to a different set of students. A smarter and better prepared student body will enable an instructor to teach more challenging concepts. The better students will demand a faster pace and will cover more in the semester. However, the distinction seems small once you start comparing major institutions, Kansas vs. Georgetown. Rather than Harvard vs. Bloomsburg(Pa).[/quote]

This is 100% true from my experience. I took classes at Oregon in high school and then went to a top ranked college in the Northeast. The student quality allows for very different teaching/testing. Also, while there are some great professors at all big schools like Oregon, schools like Stanford will have a far greater percentage of great ones. I think about half my Oregon professors were pretty good and only 1 or 2 were subpar 4 years at my college.