2.4) What are the advantages of attending U.C. Davis as an undergraduate?
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This article is from the U.C. Davis FAQ, by David F. Prenatt, Jr. netesq@dcn.davis.ca.us with numerous contributions by others.
2.4) What are the advantages of attending U.C. Davis as an undergraduate?
The advantages of attending U.C. Davis as an undergraduate as opposed
to a junior college or CSU are the advantages that result from your
association with the ambitious people who are drawn to a research
university. However, your academic education may suffer in the
process. Like any research institution, U.C. Davis relies heavily
upon teacher's assistants (TAs) to teach undergraduate courses that no
tenured professors really want to teach. In striking contrast,
classes at junior colleges and CSU's have a higher percentage of Ph.D.
instructors who are highly motivated and capable teachers.
Junior colleges are primarily transitional institutions. Many if
not most of the students there will eventually enter a four year
institution and obtain a four year degree. Accordingly, students in
junior colleges do not as a rule suffer from a lack of ambition. The
cultural millieu of CSUs, on the other hand, inculcates a ditch digger
mentality in many students.
Everything at the CSUs, from the major fields of study that are
offered to the architecture of the buildings, reinforces the false
notion that CSU students are somehow second-class students. But there
is no reason for students to accept this pecking order; it simply
doesn't have to be that way. Someone who attends a CSU can have just
as good an education as someone who attends a U.C., if not better.
No matter where you attend college, the trick to getting a good
education is to take courses from good teachers rather than just
taking required courses at prestigious institutions. If you find an
instructor who knows how to teach, take whatever classes he or she
offers, and ask him or her to recommend other teachers. I had one
undergraduate mentor who taught three courses simultaneously at three
different colleges (a U.C, a CSU, and a junior college), and I
attended all three courses at the same time.
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