Sarcasm can communicate a point Yours doesn't. Just play it straight.
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The more common something is, the less prestigious it is.
Good thing we didn't have this attitude when I went to A&M or else most of you never would have been admitted. Explain to me why 29,000 students in 1982 was ok and 58,000 students in 2015 (double in size in 33 years) is ok, but 80,000 students (a 40% increase) is absolute doom for us if it occurs in 2030? What if we slow that to 2040, would that be acceptable?
Who said this was ok?
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I've been on Texags since 1999. Can you direct me to the threads that griped about enrollment before? I can't remember them so I assume we were ok with enrollment to date.
quote:Yes, he's actually a panther.
Cecil. The question is directed at sex Panther. He made a statement that I want to seperate the fact from the fiction.
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I don't understand how accepting more people with the exact same grades as those getting in now makes A&M a "diploma mill".
Did I miss something where they said they were going to relax standards? Lot's of kids get rejected because there's just no spot for them, not because they don't qualify academically.
quote:quote:Yes, he's actually a panther.
Cecil. The question is directed at sex Panther. He made a statement that I want to seperate the fact from the fiction.
No, he doesn't actually have sex.
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Ib3, then why not get your engineering degree from Tech or Kingsville? And don't waste your money on an Aggie ring.
The more elite the school and degree, the more it matters long into your career. We don't want to be one of those schools where "a year later your experience matters more than your degree". Rather we want to be a school whose degree is valued throughout your life and career.
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A lot of classes are online now.
First, is online learning a horrible thing? Second, what percentage of all classes are online? Just so we have an idea of how big and bad this monster problem really is.
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When I was in school, we talked about the 'other education' we received at A&M. That was an education of leadership built on the Quad, or at Bonfire, or within some other campus organization. If an A&M degree meant anything on a resume then it was that you were hiring a well rounded and competent individual that could be a team player as well as a team leader.
Our professors, the 'academic elite' from other schools, hated Bonfire because they felt that the image of Copenhagen dipping students covered in blood, sweat, and mud detracted from the shallow images they had built for themselves. I guess they too were afraid to let their accomplishments speak for themselves.
We didn't just lose 12 Aggies when Bonfire fell, we lost the soul of our University.
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Why do some Aggies treat "academic elite" like it's undesirable?
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I'm in aerospace and some of our top astronauts and flight directors went to a Tech. If your degree means more than your resume you're doing something wrong.
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I've been on Texags since 1999. Can you direct me to the threads that griped about enrollment before? I can't remember them so I assume we were ok with enrollment to date.
Precisely. So the many concerns expressed are a pretty good indication that this increase in enrollment isn't the same.
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Is this a Gen Y or Millennial thing?
We've shown that A&M's enrollment has been keeping up with population growth for the past 30 years while the percentage of the population attending college has increased significantly.
Does everyone need a participation medal? I just don't understand why folks are arguing to make the school so elite they never would have been accepted.
Does anyone seriously think that if they don't get a C-level job at a Fortune 100 company it will be because A&M increased enrollment? That's not how the world works.
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Why do some Aggies treat "academic elite" like it's undesirable?
Thanks Cecil. My thought exactly. Academic elite got there by being good in their field, whether teaching or research. I was brought up to value both. Why so many Ags cannot see that is beyond me. Actually, i suppose it is the academic elite bogeyman again.
I put the academic elite in quotes because if those professors really were any good in their field they wouldn't have been afraid of Bonfire.
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I don't understand how accepting more people with the exact same grades as those getting in now makes A&M a "diploma mill".
Did I miss something where they said they were going to relax standards? Lot's of kids get rejected because there's just no spot for them, not because they don't qualify academically.
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The PUF doesn't fund everyday operations of the the university. Tuition dollars do. More students = more tuition dollars.
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I'm in aerospace and some of our top astronauts and flight directors went to a Tech. If your degree means more than your resume you're doing something wrong.
A common retort and entirely anecdotal.
I have a neighbor that has a C-level job at a Fortune 100 company but I've never even heard of the school he attended and can't even find it on a top 500 list.
Of course that is also anecdotal. It doesn't hurt that he's a genius. But if you want data, read The Bell Curve and perhaps you will learn that the name of a school means less than you think.
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A&M also used to be the 2nd/3rd best university in Texas. Now it's 5th/6th. But hey, we have the biggest stadium in Texas!!!
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You can't compare the UC schools to the TAMU system without a discussion of state funding. The state of California contributes 39% of operating funds compared to Texas's contribution of 27%.
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A&M also used to be the 2nd/3rd best university in Texas. Now it's 5th/6th. But hey, we have the biggest stadium in Texas!!!
quote:I know just enough about the Bell Curve to know its a well thought out book but that its controversial enough so that arguments shouldn't hinge on it's conclusions.
I will concede that growth without adequate infrastructure or proportional staff increases is dumb. But if people were up in arms over staffing shortages, I'm sure there would be a thread for that.
Oh, and gratz on the grad school Ranger. Seriously, go read the Bell Curve. The fact Baylor didn't send anyone to the interviews with you has as much to do with your high level accomplishments and the smaller population size of their school ( and the correspondingly shorter tails on their distribution curve ).