Making the best of what one has?

Question

Do you think a person whose been offered a place in a decent university would be deprived in his/her student learning experiences as compared to if he/she would have tried to spent an extra year improving their foundation and got into a better university? What makes great institutions great? And how is it that some people despite the odds have remained more succesful in what they do than compared to someone who had gone to a great insitutions and did not come out as good as the former? Does that justify not working harder to get improve one's prospects. Uff im confused.

Answer 1

Your Q is as confused as you seem to be and isn't in a category that supports it.

Your Q however,,,minus the diatribe, is valid.

Making the best of only works,,,for most of us, as long as that best of is OUR best,,,effort, or acceptance of our assumed limitations.

Seeking BETTER is also an inherant part of our species,,,sometimes tagged GREED, but when we settle, when we resign to something, we admit we CAN'T,,,, or we have reached our own personal Peter Principle theory.

Rev. Steven

Answer 2

Sometimes a student is the one who can make his own education higher-quality regardless of the school. At the same time, sometimes a mediocre school can be the ruin of a student who would have been a great student somewhere else.

I'm not sure, though, that you can't "improve your foundation" while attending the decent university. If you're not sure you can attend the better university it would seem to me you'd be better off getting started at the decent one; and looking into transferring later. In fact, sometimes your chances of getting into a better school get better if you do well in another school and transfer. What would you be doing in that year of "improving your foundation" that you think would get you into the better school?

To me, what would make a great school would be having people teaching there who are excellent at what they do and who know how to be effective and interesting and inspiring. For someone else, a great school would involve something different.

If you have to work harder to get into a better school that may tell you that doing well in that school could be a little harder for you than for someone else. Working harded to improve prospects always makes sense, but would you be working harder to get yourself into a situation where you are struggling too hard once you get there?

I'm convinced that the quality of the education (which isn't about who has bigger dorms or more athletics or more international programs, but is about the "meat" of the education) can make or break successfully graduating. Sometimes, though, a school with a less impressive reputation may actually offer a quality education. It all depends on who teaches, what courses someone takes, and the student.

Your question isn't an easy one to answer with any sureness. There are too many variables. An expert I heard on tv a couple of years ago noted that students are better off going to "any school" for the four years but then going to a great school for a Master's Degree.

While there are times success can involve more luck than some people realize it can, for the most part success is about the person and not about his college. A better college may, though, offer more by way of getting people started off in some direction; while some schools may kind of just leave everyone on his own.

Still, when all is said and done you can't expect someone or something else to give you what you need to be a success. You either have what you need or need to figure out what you need and get it. What a school may not give you you can always get for yourself on your own.

I hate to seem as if I'm someone who likes the idea of settling for less, because I'm not; at the same time, there are times when it is wise to take a lesser but certain opportunity now over none versus a better but uncertain opportunity later over what could turn out to be none (or the lesser one you could have had later than you could have had it).

Most things in life tend to snowball. Bad things can snowball downward. Good things (opportunities are a good thing) tend to snowball upward.

Working harder to improve prospects is always a good thing, but the other thing is that there is often more than one way to accomplish a goal.

Good luck. I wish I could have given you a more definitive answer, but there isn't really one for your question. Its a matter of what you - in your heart - really want and need to do.

Answer 3

At many places the opportunities provided are common for the students. In fact there are places where the student is at handicap for want of good reference material or good teacher as guide.But those who are destined for fame and name alone come out successfully with what they have. "Read the life of Joseph Pulitzer or Abraham Lincoln your doubts will clear. It is called untiring tenacity.

Answer 4

There have been many successful People
who have gone to small unheard of schools
and still did very well in life - it's all up to the
person how much they succeed or fail in
life. Some people go to better universities
and fail badly & do not succeed in life.

Answer 5

an institution with a name is no guarantee that all it's students would be the best with their respective fields. it's up to the student's dedication and utilization of what he learned to be place in practice that makes a person successful...