Does everyone here have an inferiority complex?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the motivations for pursuing education at elite universities, particularly Ivy League and Oxbridge institutions, and whether such pursuits stem from an inferiority complex. Participants share personal experiences and opinions regarding the value of prestigious degrees versus practical experience and happiness in one's career.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express concern that the pursuit of elite university degrees may be driven by societal expectations rather than personal fulfillment.
  • Others argue that not everyone in the forum has an inferiority complex, suggesting that striving for excellence can stem from self-love and ambition.
  • A participant shares their negative experience at an elite university, questioning the value of such institutions and citing a poll indicating unhappiness among Harvard students.
  • Another participant discusses the varying importance of university prestige depending on the field of study, noting that experimental physics may not require attendance at a brand-name school, while theoretical physics may benefit from connections to well-known supervisors.
  • Some participants mention that good physicists can emerge from non-elite schools, emphasizing the importance of individual effort and specialization over institutional reputation.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express multiple competing views regarding the motivations for attending elite universities and the implications of such choices. The discussion remains unresolved, with no consensus on whether the pursuit of prestigious degrees is indicative of an inferiority complex.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include anecdotal evidence regarding student happiness and the difficulty of generalizing outcomes based on university prestige, as experiences can vary widely depending on individual circumstances and fields of study.

  • #31
Theory: Any B/C even D student can turn themselves into an A student. Evidence: me. What did it: really wanting to do it, a good textbook (either given or sought out), doing previous years exam papers following the current syllabus until I was acing them, not trusting teachers (they often don't give a ****), and learning how to learn:

Make the Most of Your Mind by Tony Buzan
 
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  • #32
Naw. If anything I have a superiority complex. I think this is the right way to go - even if it's not very realistic, it's often helpful.
 
  • #33
But the trouble is you have to be predicted an A early enough for it to count. Applying to somewhere very competitive when you're predicted Ds they're just going to ignore you even if you swear on your life you'll get an A. Being predicted a C in further maths might have been what kept me out of Oxford first time round, I actually got an A.

Jason's advice is nice in an ideal world, although in practice you don't often get much say in who your supervisor will be, at least in physics. I know someone who started a PhD very much under the impression he'd get one supervisor, and ended up with someone terrible. At least in the British system you normally apply to the research group, not the supervisor, so you could get anyone, but I do also know some people who knew early enough for it to be a factor who their supervisor would be.
 
  • #34
mal4mac said:
Theory: Any B/C even D student can turn themselves into an A student. Evidence: me. What did it: really wanting to do it, a good textbook (either given or sought out), doing previous years exam papers following the current syllabus until I was acing them, not trusting teachers (they often don't give a ****), and learning how to learn...

I definitely agree. Science teachers at the university level are known to be quite selfish. You'd be surprised how generous high school teachers and community college professors are in comparison. Many are not there just for the salary, although university professors can be.

Which is not to say that they are all bad, but that the major mistake I made as an undergraduate student was believing everything I was told; and waiting patiently for the faculty to make good on promises.

My liberal arts professors were definitely more of the order of "teacher" rather than merely a "professor," when you get down to it. I learned by going to their classes.

If you want to learn Science though, go to the labs and do your reports. Read the textbooks by yourself; make your own notes. And make an honest working schedule for yourself (do not take their advise unless you absolutely trust them).

I think the absolute best way to learn Physics is the lab and a good textbook. Always work the sample problems in the book--that was always a confidence builder for me at least!

But don't feel bad about not showing up for class, unless you are actually having an attendance issue already. Professors are always more impressed by good grades; and sometimes they can really screw you up with the mean things that they say or believe.

Happiness = success as far as I was concerned. When I was miserable because my professor in chem told me they wanted us all to fail, I did poorly. But when I got angry enough to go my own way and study alone, I did well. When I felt comfortable in my own skin around the department, I did even a little bit better.
 
  • #35
metalgirl2045 said:
But the trouble is you have to be predicted an A early enough for it to count. Applying to somewhere very competitive when you're predicted Ds they're just going to ignore you even if you swear on your life you'll get an A. Being predicted a C in further maths might have been what kept me out of Oxford first time round, I actually got an A.

Pah. There's always a way. Do the A levels, making sure you get A's (!), then apply for next year. Spend the year out writing detailed notes on Feynman's lectures on physics & Penrose's Road to Reality for 16 hours a day. Send a copy of your notes to top dogs (Hawking, Penrose, Magueijo ...)* and tell them you *really* want to study physics in their department/college. Then you only have to become a top wrangler and revolutionize physics to be the next Einstein :-)

* Read a biography of Faraday to see how (something like) this approach worked with Davy. 'Diogenes the dog' had an even more direct approach, but you don't want to frighten the horses or get arrested.:smile:
 
  • #36
pdunc said:
I truly don't mean to be beligerant, but I've been reading these (often helpful) forums and I keep seeing people trying to wrangle their way into US Ivy League or Oxbridge, and asking people to placate their fears of inadequacy.

I have some experience (a BSc) with elitist universities like these in Australia (yes, we have our own elitisms/rankings/snobbery) and must say it was a less than enjoyable 4 year stint, mainly because I was not like most of the other people who studied there.

Doesn't anyone here want to go to a decent uni, get a good degree, and follow on to a happy career? Why is everyone chasing these brand-names uni's? It saddens me a bit to think that people are pursuing these goals simply because it's expected of them.

In my experience, a first is a first and experience (voluntary or otherwise) counts for a lot more than most.

Cultural differences:

Basically compared to Australians Americans are a bunch of elitist, snobs in a society that has classes of people defined by how much money your parents had.

The kid with rich parents goes to good school while poor kid can't afford it and gets a worse job.Their minimum wage is $6 bucks an hour or so.. our is $14. Work at K-Mart here you get $21 per hour.. over there you'll get about $9 if you're lucky. Our education system is near enough to free. They just make you pay more tax until you pay your loan. The maximum we can pay is 8% of your income once it hits $120,000. They pay full and mandatory interest on their loans that can be as high as $40,00 PER YEAR for a mid range school.

The list just goes on and on and on.. if you're poor Australia is a much kinder nation. We just have a different belief system and that needs to be respected. So long as Americans aren't having a got at us for our social policies, we should leave their domestic policy well alone. I dislike so many things about that country, but it is theirs and not our right to dictate how other people should live based on our values.