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How hard are European Elite Universities?

christophschnabl.medium.com

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Re: How hard are European Elite Universities?

#2
A nice writeup, which (surprisingly) matches with my time in a different university studying a different science subject nearly 40 years ago! Your closing remarks however, caused me to raise my eyebrows: university education has always been predominantly for pre-vocation students. Those who do not yet have jobs etc. Sure, there is (famously in the UK) the Open University for "mature" students, but typically they require 2-4 times the education period to complete. Oh, and before people pick me up on "jobless students", I am fully aware that many students these days have to take part time jobs to even afford their education (which I find shocking).

Re: How hard are European Elite Universities?

#3

A nice writeup, which (surprisingly) matches with my time in a different university studying a different science subject nearly 40 years ago! Your closing remarks however, caused me to raise my eyebrows: university education has always been predominantly for pre-vocation students. Those who do not yet have jobs etc. Sure, there is (famously in the UK) the Open University for "mature" students, but typically they requ…

Thanks! I came to a similar conclusion while researching historic science undergrad syllabi, especially but not limited to Physics. Nothing much (apparently) has changed in Math or Foundations in these subjects. I used to study CS papers/topics on my own, but then figured a major university to be better able to provide better constraints than I ever could.

Re: How hard are European Elite Universities?

#4

A nice writeup, which (surprisingly) matches with my time in a different university studying a different science subject nearly 40 years ago! Your closing remarks however, caused me to raise my eyebrows: university education has always been predominantly for pre-vocation students. Those who do not yet have jobs etc. Sure, there is (famously in the UK) the Open University for "mature" students, but typically they requ…

Thanks! I came to a similar conclusion while researching historic science undergrad syllabi, especially but not limited to Physics. Nothing much (apparently) has changed in Math or Foundations in these subjects. I used to study CS papers/topics on my own, but then figured a major university to be better able to provide better constraints than I ever could.

My own degree was Chemistry. The obvious requirement for attending practical classes (as well as lectures/tutorials etc) meant I had to really organised my drinking time! I was lucky, fully funded education system, fairly wealthy parents. So despite being at University College London, I managed to survive. It got better after the PhD.