BF2S Forums Tuition Fees - Standardised? Privatised?

nukchebi0 wrote:

presidentsheep wrote:

Uzique wrote:

where are you hoping to go again? if you're not going up to trinity college, cantab to do maths then you're looking really fucking stupid right now

didn't you get rejected outright from bristol? maybe you shoudn't be so snobby about course/institutions...

Got an offer from:
Bristol
KCL
Glasgow (physics)
Glasgow (history)
Birmingham

Turned down the two Glasgows and Bristol (shit university imo).

This year:
UCL
KCL
Birmingham
Hull (pointless backup)

Got told by Kings and Birmingham on the phone that i would have usually got my place on a near miss basis if it weren't for the huge numbers of applicants that year particularly.

Where do you go again? Oxford? Cambridge?

he pretended he goes to Oxford but really attends Royal Holloway

So, a fairly average university by any standard.

Ilocano wrote:

Turquoise wrote:

dayarath wrote:

Entirely avoidable if the notion of "skilled workforce" would still be pursued actively and implemented effectively. If such a thing happens it's because we didn't do enough to prevent it.

I think it's a long way off though. With CERN underneath the ground, NASA still up in the air and things like nuclear fusion being developed we're not going to be out of the race by a long shot. All other nations will need, at the very least, decades, to catch up technologically.

There need to be some drastic reforms though yes, it's pretty clear that it's physically impossible to continue on in the same way.

I can generally agree with that.  Adapting your workforce to adhere to comparative advantage on a global scale is the surest way to preserve your standard of living as a nation.

Unfortunately, America's system is so slow to change, ridiculously complicated by variances in local management, and has a populace so unrealistic and impatient that I believe we won't adapt in enough time.

I suspect our standard of living will stagnate and slowly decline over the next 20 to 30 years.  We're already seeing the development of a large underclass.

Replaced my immigrants and foreign nationals.  Just look at the makeup of engineers, scientists, doctors, and nurses we have now.

Replacing skilled workers isn't my concern.  It's what happens with the excess of unskilled ones....

JohnG@lt wrote:

Well, much of the problem with engineering and other math/science oriented degree paths is that math professors seem to take perverse pleasure in fucking over their students as much as possible with 'trick problems' and other bullshit. Calculus is not difficult but what they turn it into is essentially finding 58948094 different ways to say 'The green cat jumped over the brown fence'. That's no fun for anyone except the professor.

However once you get into the real world and have to deal with actual problems you'll find you can't flick to the end of the book to check your answer. You get that 10-20 years and millions of dollars of risk down the track.

You'll also find there are more unknowns than equations, multiple variables you need to optimise simultaneously, the weight of which depends on who you speak to, the price of oil and your currencies exchange rate on the day, and multiple competitors who will cut corners beyond the point of robust engineering and who have a lower labour rate than you.

University engineering problems are trivial by comparison.

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2010-12-15 16:13:38)

Eh? From what I know, given that your university educates you properly, unless you're going into R&D it's not going to get "super-hard" as soon as you get into working life.

You're supposed to have been educated more than enough to handle most problems occuring in the private sector. Besides that, it takes a while until a company trusts you with harder projects.

dayarath wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

Also, kill the monetary reward for engineering and I'll just go become a quant. I didn't pick the field to subvert myself to the 'greater good'.

I don't think you'll have to worry about that anywhere within the next 10-20 years, maybe not at all. By that time you got a secure position anyway (I'd hope).

I do though. As Turq said if something doesn't change we're set for a downward spiral in regards to first world status. I like the west and wouldn't want to see that happening.

Turq is an eternal pessimist. Take anything he says with a grain of salt.

presidentsheep wrote:

nukchebi0 wrote:

presidentsheep wrote:

Got an offer from:
Bristol
KCL
Glasgow (physics)
Glasgow (history)
Birmingham

Turned down the two Glasgows and Bristol (shit university imo).

This year:
UCL
KCL
Birmingham
Hull (pointless backup)

Got told by Kings and Birmingham on the phone that i would have usually got my place on a near miss basis if it weren't for the huge numbers of applicants that year particularly.

Where do you go again? Oxford? Cambridge?

he pretended he goes to Oxford but really attends Royal Holloway

So, a fairly average university by any standard.

his professors also taught at oxford though

what are you guys on about. i trolled as a toff persona for about 3 months and pissed everyone off. i've never claimed anything else whilst posting in a 'sincere' normal voice since. furthermore what does it have to do with anything re: tuition fees? presidentsheep, YOU'RE the one putting forward all these elitist, arbitrary, bitter-fuelled rants about certain universities, departments and subjects. i've never made the tuition fees argument one of snobbery or elitism at all: my clear and only contention throughout has been that the distinction between polytechnics/universities has perhaps done some damage. stop being so ridiculous. some of your statements about universities (e.g. bristol) are so misguided... statements only an a-level ucas applicant could come out with. some making excuses to yourself. i've never claimed to go to oxford 'by proxy', the only thing i've ever said is that i chose my english dept. because of its top-ranking for research and reputation in this particular subject (i.e. english literature). i really don't see what that has to do with anything, though.

Last edited by Uzique (2010-12-15 16:49:13)

Lighten up, my last post obviously wasn't serious. I've got nothing against your university choice. My problem with Bristol university was the snobbery I experienced whilst there, I don't think i've ever met a bunch of more self important pricks, however, that was only for the subject I was applying for.
In my opinion the lack of distinction between universities and polytechnic colleges is what's causing problems, seems to me that everyone's now expected to have a degree in something or other in order to get a decent job.

The obvious solution is a nice, dependable, and unspectacular one, like...Royal Holloway.

Haha, I knew Royal Holloway had that reputation; it's something you've said multiple times before.

Dilbert_X wrote:

dayarath wrote:

You're supposed to have been educated more than enough to handle most problems occuring in the private sector. Besides that, it takes a while until a company trusts you with harder projects.

Well, every engineering decision you take is also a business and marketing decision, and it seems to have been my fate to have been handed all the hardest jobs from day one.

From what I know, given that your university educates you properly, unless you're going into R&D it's not going to get "super-hard" as soon as you get into working life.

My whole career has been in R+D.....

I'm beelining for management and an MBA.

i love how galt always talks about the 'right' decisions in life when really the scale of his aspirations, and the purpose of his 'education' is to attain a job in middle-mangement obscurity. yeah... the right decisions if you want to scale the economic ladder into middle-class inanity.