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lhotseface
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Academic Rigor ? 16 Dec 2006, 00:24
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Does anyone feel that the so called "academic rigor" at top b-schools is a bit overrated? I have attended first and second year classes at 5-6 of the top 10 schools and frankly the level of education was shockingly poor. Initially, I thought it might have been just one bad class. But again and again, I felt the students weren't really smart and the professors had to spoon feed common sense. There were maybe 2-3 smart kids in every class who would lead conversations and end up answering the professor's questions. The others would merely participate for the heck of it (or grades?!) but add no value to any discussion. And I am talking about simple things that anyone who reads any decent newspaper or magazine would be able to comprehend.
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GMATT73
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Academic Rigor ? 16 Dec 2006, 05:41
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lhotseface
Does anyone feel that the so called "academic rigor" at top b-schools is a bit overrated? I have attended first and second year classes at 5-6 of the top 10 schools and frankly the level of education was shockingly poor. Initially, I thought it might have been just one bad class. But again and again, I felt the students weren't really smart and the professors had to spoon feed common sense. There were maybe 2-3 smart kids in every class who would lead conversations and end up answering the professor's questions. The others would merely participate for the heck of it (or grades?!) but add no value to any discussion. And I am talking about simple things that anyone who reads any decent newspaper or magazine would be able to comprehend.
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Sounds a lot like undergrad. Maybe they were a little burnt out from just finishing finals?
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OasisNYK
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Academic Rigor ? 16 Dec 2006, 08:01
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I would have to agree - at Darden the classes seemed pretty tough but at Yale I was less than impressed. Cornell seemed solid but the class discussion was basically the same groups of students debating points - I thought there would be more interaction since this is supposed to be the cream of the crop.
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Academic Rigor ? 16 Dec 2006, 09:29
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Surprisingly the class at Stanford wasn't impressive at all. The students debated about a certain aspect of leadership and I did not see the energy, behavioural intelligence or extreme enthusiasm that the school boasts of.
I believe it depends on the faculty who conducts the class. Also we must keep in mind that the classroom is made up of a diverse student body with people from engineering, arts , science and business background. While you might find the business students active in class, the rest of them (non-business backgorund) might be taking time to speak the business lingo and hence not very active in class...