Post #92

On Higher Education - Part 2 (Part 1 here) In the first part of this post, I talked about what higher education is now and what it should be. In this post, I'll focus on elite colleges, and why everyone is obsessed with going to one. This post is written from an international student's perspective and would look very different for US citizens. If you are competent enough to study on your own, you can learn anything online they teach in any top tier colleges. Then why, prey tell, are you obsessed with going to an elite institution? 3 words: Opportunity, Reputation, Connections. These higher educational institutions provide an abundance of resources so there's always something for every student. I'll give you an example. I was doing econ research with professors from the main campus in DC, but they couldn't employ me due to work authorization rules between the US and Qatar. So I applied for research grants and got around $5k. All I had to was to submit a 1 page research proposal. And I have gotten a few of these throughout the years. Reputation is another key selling point for colleges as you'll get have the "s/he went to X college so he must be good" credentials. Lastly, connections and friends you will make at these colleges will last you a lifetime. Going back to the main point of this post, it is sad to see the US Supreme court putting an end to affirmative action as the program tried to improve the racial gap in colleges. There were discussions about the legacy/donor admissions in top tier colleges and how that, instead, should be the center of discussion. But if you think about it, these entities are private institutions, and can do whatever they want with their policies as long as they don't severely harm the average student. These institutions are hubs for rich kids to hang out, but at the same time, they allow students like you to get into these circles and make connections that might change the trajectory of your life. @noordievdev