Sarcasm can communicate a point Yours doesn't. Just play it straight.

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

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?

---

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.

As someone who just graduated, I can verify that there are plenty of unqualified individuals accepted into A&M. I had class with plenty of them

quote:

---

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.

Cecil. The question is directed at sex Panther. He made a statement that I want to seperate the fact from the fiction.

quote:

---

Cecil. The question is directed at sex Panther. He made a statement that I want to seperate the fact from the fiction.

---

Yes, he's actually a panther.

No, he doesn't actually have sex.

quote:

---

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.

---

The issue is that A&M, more than almost any other state school in the country, has the resources to be totally elite and still be fairly large (40-45k) with an outstanding research output. As another poster said, there are plenty of very unqualified students admitted right now, some of which is of course attributable to the top 10% rule.

Regular students often don't realize this, but A&M's strength in the market by far is the research capacity. If growth is desired, we should increase the number of faculty and have them hire more masters/doctoral students. In a few years, there will be a bunch of wealthy former Ags who would fill the coffers up.

MIT has a fifth of the students that A&M has, but they invest in a few excellent students rather than a bunch of mostly decent ones. A&M can graduate a very solid number of very good engineers/business people and dominate markets, but instead we choose to send out armies of middle of the pack grads.

I just graduated, and A&M has afforded me the opportunity to go to a top 3 grad school in my engineering discipline. But everyone that I asked for advice (including my research advisor, summer internship bosses who are
A&M grads, and other A&M profs and even my academic advisor) all told me to get out while I still can.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Cecil. The question is directed at sex Panther. He made a statement that I want to seperate the fact from the fiction.

---

Yes, he's actually a panther.

No, he doesn't actually have sex.

---

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.

quote:

---

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.

---

Sid, what's that supposed to mean? Straight English, no sarcasm, please.

quote:

---

quote:

---

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.

---

As someone who took several online classes in undergrad and grad school, i can tell you that yes online classes are a joke.

My motivation for engaging in the course material or any optional "discussion opportunities" went down by about 50% for each online class I took. You might assume that it has something to do with my self discipline, but unfortanately I had the same negative experience as almost all of my cohorts.

I made an effort to avoid those classes at all costs and to take them in an actual classroom setting where living, breathing people can see me raise a hand and engage with me in a relevant discussion. But unfortanately those classes weren't even offered in person. I assume because there either a) weren't enough faculty or b) there were too many students. It definitely was not because the quality of the service was higher. ironically students have to pay MORE to take these online classes. It's a ****ing joke.

I recognize that digital learning has a place in the future of higher education, but the current model is incredibly disappointing and it would be nice if A&M didn't have to resort to that model out of necessity rather than out of an enhanced value.

Why do some Aggies treat "academic elite" like it's undesirable?

quote:

---

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.

---

I'm going to bet you made a lot of assumptions about academicians. And having academic elite around isn't threatening to some of us. Sometimes it is actually a good thing not to think like a hayseed.

quote:

---

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.

quote:

---

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.

quote:

---

quote:

---

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.

---

quote:

---

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.

---

I read this 3x, but maybe somebody else can make sense of it. I can't. I know one damned thing, though; Lb3 knows how the world works.

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

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.

---

Why do you give a rat's ass what they think of Bonfire? It's a college campus. College campuses revolve around free speech. The more dissension the better. It is good to question.

quote:

---

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.

---

Math ain't your strong suit, is it?

quote:

---

The PUF doesn't fund everyday operations of the the university. Tuition dollars do. More students = more tuition dollars.

---

Yeah, let tuition increase a little. Let that supply and demand curve work. You do know what that is, right?

quote:

---

quote:

---

quote:

---

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.

---

I'm in medicine. I can assure you name matters. I'm betting attorneys and vets on here will agree.

And if you begin on the lower end of an income curve, it will be more difficult to reach the higher end.

quote:

---

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:

---

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%.

---

True. But Tejas should be contributing more and our tuition should rise.


Good night.

quote:

---

quote:

---

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!!!

---

---

This sums up everything going on at A&M right now pretty perfectly

quote:

---

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 ).

---

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.

Anyways, I'm sure many other people have seen it- the list of where Fortune 500 CEOs graduated from- and I'm very proud that A&M is tied with a bunch of schools with 3 Fortune 500 CEOs.

We're not the best in Texas- that would be SMU with 4- but I'm glad we're on that list.

Anyways, we have half of what it would take to break the Top 9 on that list- several schools (NYU, Columbia, Northwestern, Cornell, and the Univ. of Chicago)- all have 6. Harvard has 25. As for Ranger's school- MIT- they had 7.

No one above us on the list would surprise anyone- why? Because people that tend to achieve at high levels tend to end up at certain schools. There is a reason why Harvard has 8 times as many Fortune 500 CEOs than we do. Its not sheer luck.

And that is the point. The fact is we are and have been for many decades now larger than almost any other school on that list- much, much larger than many- and we're one of the crowd and not a school that sticks out. Now, I realize this list is more of a take on our business school than the university as a whole, but if there really was a correlation between size of school as you say, one might think we'd have further differentiated ourselves from Babson College (2800 students and all)...but we have not done that.