Grad school

[pdx]

Because the "self-respecting" aspect of W&M is that they teach undergrads first and foremost. Kinda why they stuck with the term "college" and not "university" (which is just their take on the terminology..)

There's something of an issue in many "self-respecting" schools with professors who come there for research and to teach grad students. That's great for the school's prestige, but those same profs have no interest in undergrads and it shows in the poor quality of teaching they provide to them.

I come from a University with a similar philosophy. We had no engineering grad school, but I would put the quality of my education up against most other engineering schools (including some of the elites). I had a friend who went to UW (that's Washington). He had labs with ba-zillions of dollars of equipment, but the undergrads only touched it under tightly controlled circumstances. At my school, we had older equipment (and less of it) but 100% of it was available for our design projects and research. Same was true for profs. Ours weren't the superstar research minds in their fields, but they were there 100% for undergrads.

A good grad school helps with grants and national recognition. It's kind of like a good football team - it helps the reputation, but doesn't have much to do with undergraduate education.

 

[Jeff29]

Actually, it's "Moo". You know, like a cows opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.

I sure miss my Friends.

 

[FlyingBeagle]

I'm not passing judgement on the quality of their undergraduate or graduate programs. I just assumed that an English department would be a fundamental part of any graduate school.

I do agree that there is a difference between the quality of the instructor as a teacher and as a publisher. I had many TAs who were better teachers than the senior professors. It's all about how much time/effort they're willing to invest.

Anyone else know of any other possibilities? (She wants to be a professor someday, so institutional prestige is somewhat important to her).

 

[HH-60H]

I sure miss my Friends.

Who? The cows?

 

[jmiller82]

FlyingBeagle, I'm sure you're already aware of this, but on each base, the Navy has a Navy College office, with some degrees offered by colleges (some good, some not so good). My wife is in the same boat as yours, wanting to knock out another degree while I'm in flight school.. I'm not sure if she'd be eligible as a dependant, but give it a try. I've heard that NAF Atsugi (might be an option in the future for you if you're jets) has a contract with the Univ. of Maryland for distance learning. Try Navy College's list and see what is offered at the bases you'll be at. Also, you might have the wife go to schools like UF (Florida) and check on their distance learning program. I know they have a bunch of grad programs, but she'd have to go like once a month to a proctored test (in Gainesville, but they also have a subsidiary in Milton, FL - P'cola)..