re: Apparently some posters think LSU >= Harvard, academically

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A generalization is Harvard>LSU period. Whatever LSU offers, Harvard does it better. All I have said is that Harvard is not inherently better than LSU just because they are Harvard.

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This is true. I think one thing that I'm not sure is mentioned (didn't really sift through the tread), is just the inherent value in a degree from Harvard (or an Ivy league school in general). You've got so many more opportunities whether it be from top tier companies that recruit exclusively at the ivy's, or just having a degree from an Ivy. Here at Penn, you've got employers coming to you, asking you to work for them. Certainly much different than were you to be at other schools.

That being said, it's really all about what you make it. I know some folks that, regardless where they go to school, they'd fit the status quo. I've got a friend at Wash U St. Louis, who if he were to be at LSU would have a mediocre GPA (3.3 or so).

To the poster that mentioned going to LSU is the best path towards med school - I agree with this. Unless your aim is to go to a top tier med school, I think it's perfectly fine to goto LSU, inflate your GPA, and goto Tulane/LSU med.

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First of all, your analogy doesn't even make sense because the type of fallacy involved hasn't been made by anyone here.

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So no one said that a Harvard student was better educated than a LSU student based on nothing more than the fact that they went to Harvard?

Then what are you talking about then? Because you side is starting to sound awfully like my argument.

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I think most prospective college students intuitively know that only a few d-bags will actually stick to the major they pick in HS (if they pick one at all) anyway.

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I didn't realize that only d-bags stuck with their major. And in my experience, I haven't seen many radical changes in major. Sure, if the person was particularly stupid about it (My first roommate started as a civil engineer...but confessed to have always hated science/math). Most of the time it is minor refinements. Like biology to biochemistry...or biochemistry to micro. etc. And there is a lot of crossover of the things I talked about within departments. So pretty much this is nothing more than a non sequitur just to hear yourself talk/nothing more than a reply.

You are obviously just argumentative by nature (I am the same), and your pride won't let you back down despite the fact that we both agreed on the same points to multiple posters...the only difference was that someone else said it.

So I'll do what needs to be done and just bow out of the thread. Nothing more to be really gained talking with someone who fishes for a response, gets it, and throws multiple ad hominems and a sneer from the start to someone that has been civil. But you are so cool and well adjusted.

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I'm sure there is an H1N1 thread for you to troll somewhere.

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Ironic. You call my posting shite from the CDC in response to other people's posts trolling in a fricking thread where you were hoping to incite an argument.

Perhaps you should look up what the word means?

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Places like Harvard are full of absolutely, unmistakably brilliant folks

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Absolutely false, and I have direct knowlege of more than on example to prove it. And being full of "brilliant" folks has little to do with university rankings like US News & World Report. If you want an informed understanding of those kinds of rankings, you should read this and remember that it comes from the President of Stanford University, long a beneficiary of these rankings.

The common notions of "quality schools" is almost wholely based on reputation and media hype. The only real significant advantages places like Harvard and Yale provide are more rigorous standards for the lower and middle class students (but no Bush or Kennedy would ever fail out of either) and a much greater name recognition/networking asset in a diploma with an Ivy League university's name upon it. The quality of instruction is not significantly higher than many perceived lower level institutions, and the produced students are certainly not consistently better educated than those of most other schools. I have studied with and from Harvard graduates, and been taught by Harvard professors. As a whole they have been only slightly more impressive academically than their counterparts from LSU, and significantly less impressive than their counterparts from a number of other institutions (Michigan, Florida and Texas come to mind).

Not Bama that's for sure.

This whole thread: LSU > = Harvard in education should have never been started. Come on!

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It is all an elitist perception...nothing more.

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harvard may be elitist. but the perception that harvard is a far superior academic institution is a reality. lsu does not come close... neither does florida or any other sec school.

I don't know what side of the arguement this falls on but I thought it is interesting. Payscale.com lists the entry level salary and mid-career salary of graduates
Harvard University

Ivy League

$60,000

$126,000

Louisiana State University (LSU)

State Schools

$47,200

$84,100