So I think the biggest part about choosing a university at the moment is the fact I focus waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much on it's prestige. It's unfortunate because where ever I look on the internet, it's people bashing the university that I'm leaning towards over another university in my area.

Just so everyone isn't confused, I'll just name the universities right away so you'll get an idea of what each one is (doubt you'd hear of any of them).

Simon Fraser University (Ranked 198 Top public universities in the world): SFU
University of British Columbia (Ranked top 30 public universities in the world): UBC

Now I've got accepted to each, but, UBC is very far from my house (50 minutes transit) and SFU on the other hand, being very close (5 minutes transit). Also another complication is that I only applied to UBC sciences but I'm leaning towards applied sciences at SFU.

Debate about university rankings, are, just total chocolatestorms full of fan boys that bash each other.

Which is why, like always, I write about this sort of stuff; I'm telling myself that I should just ignore the haters (all who sounds like highschool students) and just go to SFU and save money + do something i want to do.

Or am I making a mistake and should consider my universities name for my undergrad, even when I'm slightly less inclined to finish a science degree?

I hate elitism, nuff' said.

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Also, I've finished Organic Chemistry (yayyy); spent the whole day sleeping today and I don't know why, ugh.

(This post was last modified: 23/06/2011 06:12 PM by Tetris999.)

(This post was last modified: 23/06/2011 06:21 PM by eKusoshisut0.)

A good university will help you in terms of employment, but, it will also mean lower grades.  I mean, it would be reasonable to assume that the average "quality" of students is higher, therefore for the same amount of effort you put in, you will score lower.

So whether it's worth it or not depends on if you can score high at the good university.  I mean, if you're scoring distinction average anyway at the good uni, then that's probably the best option.  If you're scoring pass average or something, then it might be a good idea moving to an easier uni to get higher scores.  Because whatever university you come from, a pass average is shit and won't get you any good jobs.

(This post was last modified: 23/06/2011 06:27 PM by Assassinator.)

(23/06/2011 06:21 PM)Assassinator Wrote:  A good university will help you in terms of employment, but, it will also mean lower grades.  I mean, it would be reasonable to assume that the average "quality" of students is higher, therefore for the same amount of effort you put in, you will score lower.

So whether it's worth it or not depends on if you can score high at the good university.  I mean, if you're scoring distinction average anyway at the good uni, then that's probably the best option.  If you're scoring pass average or something, then it might be a good idea moving to an easier uni to get higher scores.  Because whatever university you come from, a pass average is shit and won't get you any good jobs.

I've been going to UBC and getting an 80% average (if you don't count motherf***ing biology which i got 54% in); so marks aren't really a problem.

That being said, reading what you've written does put me on the spot on deciding which university now. Hmmm.

Then again, this was sciences; I'm assuming engineering will be a lot tougher.

(23/06/2011 06:24 PM)ProperBritish Wrote:  look at job prospects after graduation

after all it's why you go to a uni.

some lower ranked unis have better job prospects because they help you more or are sponsored by companies that look directly at graduate scores and offer the ones they want jobs.

My uni is quite middle ground, but the computer science department is in good standing :3

A good idea is also to check the dpertment rankings, for example Oxford and Cambridge in the UK may be famous (and the highest ranked overall) but in a couple of subjects it is outclassed by other universities such as Southampton or Warwick.

Sometimes sadly, headhunters find that if the uni is more prestigious, it looks good to have them on the team as it were.

I'm going to check that out right now, it sucks that prestige seems to play a role in employment :/ .

(This post was last modified: 23/06/2011 06:36 PM by Tetris999.)

I believe prestige is mostly based on the research from the university, not its teaching abilities, so really, I don't put a lot of weight to it.  But as such, most people still aim for the prestigious one, which makes average grades higher etc.

Somewhat depends on whether you think one actually teaches better than the other, and whether employers will actually care about what university you go to.