<p>BIGTWIX’s post made me think of one more point, which is the important difference between the two questions</p>
<p>(1) Which schools offer the best academic experience?</p>
<p>(2) At which schools can a student receive the best academic experience?</p>
<p>At some schools, you’ll be hard-pressed to avoid learning. Your classmates will be incredible, your professors will be widely renowned, and the coursework will be challenging, no matter how little effort you want to put into it. But speaking anecdotally again, I have a good friend who’s at a community college for personal reasons, and is soon planning to transfer to a nearby non-flagship state university. This girl is an exceptional student…very passionate, incredibly self-motivated, and a true lover of learning. She has turned every one of her CC assignments into a major endeavor, putting more effort into each than I’ve ever been able to fathom. In return, she’s caught the eyes of most of her teachers, and has been able to assist them with research, meet with them privately, do special projects, access special facilities and privileges, and squeeze an unimaginable level of personalization from her time in a CC. Interestingly, but only as a side-note, this girl dated a top-LAC grad while she was at CC, and she marveled at his closed-mindedness toward education…his unwillingness to even consider the validity of educational routes less “elite” than his own…</p>
<p>I personally could never pull something like this girl’s path off. As good of a student as I can be, I just don’t have the self-discipline. But my friend was determined not to let circumstances dictate her experience, and she’ll come out of CC with more actual book-knowledge than most “elite” grads…think Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. Now, I do think that there’s a great value to factors such as interaction with classmates/faculty of the caliber more often (but not exclusively!) found at top schools than elsewhere, but this is off-topic from BIGTWIX’s claim, which was about difficulty of curricula.</p>
<p>Regardless, BIGTWIX, the woman you’re referring to was probably less stupid than you seem to believe. A challenging, worthwhile academic experience may not be inescapable at a lower-tier or community college, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t obtainable.</p>
<p>I know I’m talking about exceptions to the rule, but hey…still a nice story, I think ;)</p>