University ranking Shamanking

University Ranking Shmanking

I received a call from the office manager of an organization that the “president” wanted to speak with me on some important matters as a result of the performance of my organization proved to be exemplary that year, or so she said. We set up a phone appointment for the day I planned to be available for the president who was joined by the “chairman” of the board to congratulate me for the “job well done” and begged leave for his appointment. The president was very pleasant, articulated himself well as an educated person, communicated like a well versed person and informed me that I had won the prestigious award of my field and will be receiving my award certificate and a shield of recognition. The gentleman also advised me that I can only receive the award at a banquet ceremony at the Westin Hotel and that the event would be covered by the media along with some politicians and celebrities presence. This was no hoax. The president informed me that the dinner was complimentary but I had to make a contribution of $5,000 to attend the ceremony. There was no hissing sound but my excitement fizzled when he insisted on making the “donation” to his organization. Mind you, this organization was advertising in some prestigious magazines as a business evaluating company for a while so the authenticity was not in question.  

It finally downed on me that the president was probably calling me from the chairman’s a desk away office. No, it was not a scam. He offered an award and priced it according to the demographics. He was very upset that I was not giving this “award opportunity” the credit it deserved. On my insistence that if won the award then it should not be tied with a donation, he almost yelled at me with frustration for letting the opportunity go. I could understand his frustration; he lost a business prospect with a very high profit margin. Lesson learnt, was that all awards and rankings are not based on the commonly acceptable merit which is based on facts.

Ranking of schools is no different than that. Wait a minute- That may not be a fair statement so let us rationalize it. Let us take the high ranking schools like, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, U Penn, MIT, Stanford,  UCLA, UCB, UCSD, JH, UCal and some more, they are pretty darn good schools. They do not pay advertisement money to get their high ranking, they earned from the past performance and lack of competition. The fact of the matter is that the higher you pay these magazines for the “advertorials” or advertisement, better the ranking you get. They also use criteria like, how long you have been advertising with them, how much money you are spending with them and how regularly etc.. That can get your institution ranking up and down also. It’s crying shame that the education profession has become a pure business in some cases. No one ranks those small town colleges in God forsaken districts where the professors and teachers work twice as hard with less than adequate support staff, lack of funding, falling apart facilities but working to the max of their abilities and availabilities. Can someone start ranking those financially struggling institutions and underpaid over worked faculties please? Can someone give a damn about how it affects the moral of the staff when the “endowment fund” is a luxury that you can fantasize about but not realize it?  

Ranking shmnking, it’s all a politics and business as usual game. Should we ask ourselves, why do we want to give more money to the institutes already overflowing with funding and not support the “No name” institutes? Surely they do not have the resources to groom you to be the president or CEO but isn't that what we start learning between the age of differentiation to the age of 5 or 7? If you have perfect GPA, financing in place and aspire to be the leader, knowing that realistically you can do it, go to the high ranking schools we mentioned here but otherwise get an admission in a school that offers the best curriculum, dedicated faculty and a chance to shine and outrun those Ivy League and high ranking school graduates as not all of them become president of the United States, only one out of thousands does every 4 to 8 years. So what about the rest of the CEO s and leaders? Where do they come from? The rise from within ranks! Little do we know that high ranking is done by commercial entities and not the unbiased educational authorities?  So do you a favour when it comes to the question of which school I should be going to? Ask yourself instead, which schools I can or should not attend and why. That ought to make things clearer. It may be sobering in some cases and enlightening in others. Some of these magazines in business of selling the “best school rankings” may not give me an award for my truth in higher education Blog but then again, I do not advertise with them so it won’t make a difference.        

Imagine all the people, not like John Lennon did but just imagine all the people having access to higher education like they do in the USA? Imagine someone holding your kids hands and guiding them through a bridge to cross over in the world of good colleges and universities, clearing a pathway with their experience to navigate through these uncharted waters? Imagine a group of people caring for and worrying about your children’s well-being and success same as you do? Do people like that exist?

Yes they do, the world is full of good people and goodness. We only hear about the exceptions, all because the media programs and educates us in a certain way. Speaking of education, exploration for higher education and its sources is on the rise. People realize that having an associate or even a bachelor degree is not enough to survive in this ever so competitive world. It’s all about specialization now. Specialization in the field you choose to cultivate.

Globalization made this world a village but the cutting edge technology has even brought knowledge in our palms and fingertips, literally. Superficial knowledge is so common that Holiday Inn made a commercial in which, this gentleman is giving a pilot some instructions on how to land a helicopter and some admirer asked him where he learnt flying, “No but I stayed at Holiday Inn last night he replies”, Insinuating the knowledge he gained by listening to the conversations at free breakfast hotel offers.

How do you get to have that interview call or the SMS about job interview? It’s in the magic of your resume. A resume that states the degree and the university you attended. Your professional certifications, accreditation of your school, association membership, intern-ship and residencies. It all matters to the employers now a day. More and more people are applying for the same opportunity as we all are exposed to the same source of information and aspire for the best. Employers are no longer comparing apples to oranges. It is apples to apples-stupid. What distinguishes an apple from another apple is the quality of juice it has in it and the energy it can generate. This juice comes from a higher degree and the energy from the quality of education you receive from the university you attend. I am proud of the schools I have attended but I would not pick the university I chose over University of Bridgeport that gave me an admission but not the scholarship. Today I would go to schools of better ranking over the desperate need for a scholarship. Today if the ranking is one notch higher, I am willing to pay 10% more in fees, imagine paying double the fee for double the quality of higher education?

It’s worth it. It’s worth it because you pay that higher tuition fee for 2 to 4 years, depending on your degree program but enjoy the higher salary for over twenty five years of your career. Higher degree programs allow better grooming of individuals and maturity of theoretical knowledge, deeper than superficial knowledge. Some countries do not allow lawyers to practice until they complete the JD level of education, D.Pharmacy for pharmacists and M.D. for practising doctors.

In USA, there are more M.D. degree student candidates than the available seats in medical schools. It does not stop there; your desired residency has become more difficult to get into and if you are looking for a hospital or a district of your choice, you can forget about it unless you are outstanding and it shows on your CV. Higher the GPA, higher the chances of getting an interview. You also get to choose a lot with a higher education degree at a high ranking school. One can make an argument that some of the “high ranking” schools are over rated. True some are. The rankings are politically and commercially motivated and that is a valid argument for a debate, indeed. One of nephews is attending Harvard and he think, Harvard is “overrated” but on the other hand my other nephew who attended U-Penn for his MBA degree, attributes his success to the university culture and values. Higher education is no longer a property of the Ivy League, it is becoming common. Ivy League surely produced great professors and educators but they have left and joined other institutions, a league of their own and that is a good thing for all. Goodness exists all over and education is a key to open the doors to spread it regardless of USA-China or the rest of the world.