Re: Phd in....
 

It is a good school academically but fosters an attitude of insufferable superiority. Two stories:

My brother arrived in Canada from London, still with that aggression, the expectation that every night in the pub would end in a fight. We were in a pub and there was a guy in the crowd who went to Queens. He said so. Every second sentence was "I went to Queens". After an hour of this someone asked the brother what he did for a living, he said "I'm a bricklayer". The guy who went to Queens said "that's nothing, I went to Queens". So the brother glassed him. And, since it was in Scotland Yard, we got cut off but not thrown out or banned.

The winter before last was a strong one. One day I found a car in the ditch outside the house. I pulled it out. The driver got 100 yards down the road and got stuck again. We took him in for the night and the next day I pulled him out again and followed him to Toronto. He spun out twice and I had to push him back on to the road. (Note that I was driving along in a pastel Beetle on all season tyres). He was appreciative and came back with a bottle of single malt. "If I can do anything for you.... I go to Queens".

Idiots. When I first heard "I go to Queens" I wondered how Canadians commute to Belfast. It's only world famous in Canada.

Re: Phd in....
 

What was that about :sneaky:

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I assume that's where he went.

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Damn right, it's not like it's Oxford or summat.

I've always enjoyed D. H. Lawrence's closing couplet to his poem "Oxford Voices",

We are, we are, you know we are,
Superi-aaar.

Some of us survived.

Re: Phd in....
 

As I did not attend Queens, I'll let my better half, who did, respond.............

Enter Mr Dollface :

Hello all,
First of all, to a certain degree I do agree, that there can be a lingering attitude of the average Queen's student, or as we preferred to call it, winter camp for the overprivileged.

I also agree, as in all walks of life, you are going to meet prats who needlessly require to overexpress their achievements; one of these being getting into Queen's. Just today I picked up a copy of the McLeans University rankings and once again, Queen's leads the pack for the highest entry mark required to get accepted into its courses as well as the highest % of students graduating.

The Canadian University network is relatively young compared to its British and US Ivy League cousins. We don't share the same history as some of the foundational researchers, poets and lawyers of yesteryear, however, their reputation is nonetheless of a reputable quality. Of note Alexander Graham Bell spent time at Queen's.

Queen's has a huge collaboration with many of the world renown institutions from undergrad exchange programs to research and exploration. This couldn't be achieved if the reputation of Queen's was not recognized or respected. Did you know Queen's has a school of foreign policy situated in a castle in the south of England?

I personally worked hard to get into Queen's by design, it is a known school of excellence within Canada and it has served me well as I do have a good job. Having a strong tie and pride to your school is a good thing, albeit humility doesn't go amiss.

AS far as an MBA program goes, well anyone who is willing to chuck $60k towards a year of school, I'm sure the admission requirements are not so much based on an academic grounding but more on a "can you pay us" criteria. If these students didn't attend a Queen's undergrad program well, its hard to tell where they attained their real intelligence.

Signing out
Mr.Doll Face
Did you know I went to Queen's?;):rofl:

Re: Phd in....
 

I studied at Oxford. :thumbup:





..... OK, OK, it was a post-grad certificate, and it was at "Oxford-Brookes University" for three residential weeks over one semester.:o





......But it still impresses some people (sometimes)! :rofl:

Re: Phd in....
 

I've never heard of anyone "attaining their real intelligence" by attending any university. Is that what you really meant to say?

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I picked mine up second hand at a jumble sale.

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I didnt get this either, but then I didn't attend Queen, I went to Nottingham. :sneaky:

If these students didn't attend a Queen's undergrad program well, its hard to tell where they attained their real intelligence.

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Oh that one? Yea, I was finished with it.

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I guess what He meant there was .....'attaining their real potential by attending Queens'. At least Mr Dollface did, thats what he says!:p


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Re: Phd in....
 

If that's the best you can come up with in relation to his post, then it speaks volumes;):p

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You can't slag off someones Uni in the way this thread has and expect a grad to say nothing do you? Everyone on here has put forward their view, now he has too.:p

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Hey so did I - but it was Oxpoly when I was there!!

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Did you trade up or down?

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I finished my degree in Cambridge......not AT Cambridge though, with the OU :thumbsup:....but I still like to tell people it was Cambridge :D

Never heard of Queens though?

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I did indeed know that, I walked past it last year.

I didn't but I'm glad you mentioned it. I now know to be appropriately deferential.

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Souv is the trouble maker, he started it:rofl::p

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:rofl: I'll deal with Souv later:sneaky:

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No you won't.

I'm sure Queens is a fine university.

I do take issue with kids doing MBAs. The idea of an MBA is to take people with work experience and make them more rounded. The folk I know that have done best on the programme are all engineers, usually with a decade or more of experience. Irks that buy into an MBA programme straight after getting a BA have nothing to build on. I think they learn little of value, because they can't apply the theory to real life. They still expect to get paid lots, though.

If I ruled the world, nobody under 30 would be allowed to do an MBA.

Re: Phd in....
 

Couldn't agree more. I'm currently two years into an MBA at Memorial (Canada's lowest cost MBA) and am one of the oldest in my class at 41. There are a number of bright young things who have come directly from a BA or BComm. and they have little to contribute to the class discussions other "than what they have read in books". Sadly, Business Schools are, well, businesses and will do what they have to do to fill places.

What is more frustrating at times is having infinitely more real world business experience than a number of the lecturers.......;)

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:eek:Totally agree with you.

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There is a lot of that about. I used to work for a large engineering consultancy. The guy basically in charge of steel industry projects (which were usually very big projects) had never, ever, worked directly in the steel industry. That boggled.

Come to think of it, an ex-boss of mine got an MBA from Cranfield and was very proud of the fact. I once asked him if he'd done his exams but multiple-choice tests. The man could barely write his own name.

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Good lord, after ten years in engineering they can afford to do an MBA!:confused:;)

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After ten years in engineering, it's a miracle they can spell "MBA".

I have a theory that all engineers are closet Germans.

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Das is nicht zutreffend!

http://anaximandrake.blogspirit.com/...angelove.2.png

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Rule 16.

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Wrong - Major generalisation - my cousin has a degree in mechanical engineering and is a millionaire several times over. Perhaps right place right time helped, but he is extremely smart, sought after and made VP of oil/natural gas exploration/production in US and the Gulf of Mexico with an oil company before taking very early retirement. Then he made even more money when he was begged to come out of retirement and consultant.

Re: Phd in....
 

Sense of humour failure I expect. If he's a millionaire, then he probably has no need for an MBA as he seems to be doing something right...


My sister in law has a degree in chemical engineering and is doing very nicely thank you.


Of course, she works as a chartered accountant, but started off with a MEng from Imperial...

The trick to weath as an engineer is I suspect figuring how to turn that experience into running your own business rather than solving problems on the payroll for someone else.

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My brother in law has the same qualification and couldn't even boil a kettle. Doesn't help having a helicopter parent wiping his bum for him mind you.

Individuals are just that, no matter what their theory qualifications or wherever they obtained them.

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Nazi:p

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Yep, he never needed an MBA. He has only been consulting (1 company only as a client) for the last year. He will retire (or attempt to) next year. First time he retired his gift to himself was a red Porsche 911 Carerra, with all the trimmings. Not bad for a bloke who graduated from a small Uni in California. Paid for by himself, from a blue collar background, where money was tight.

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Whose on your avi? looks like Malcolm McLaren:lol:

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Peter Sellers, in one of his more famous roles:rolleyes:

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pic is so small, I couldn't tell:o

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Rather than blame students for being unsuitable MBA candidates I would rather question the motives of University departments. Dont forget that Unis are major businesses these days and they run huge marketing campaigns to fill in their courses, it brings in money for the uni and pay for the staff.

If the students at Queens were not fit for an MBA(as Souv points out and I sure he's honest about it) then I wonder how they got there in the first place. Its a shared responsibility! My definition of a good Uni is one that guides the student in the right direction, its as simple as that.

Re: Phd in....
 

Which is?

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It may be unfair to single Queens out. The universities have to work with what they get from high schools! Personally, having been a school administrator and teacher, I believe that governments want schools to graduate medicore, unchallenged, non-threatening, and uncritical (though they spout about critical thinking they are scared of "critical theory") fodder for the job market. The job of universities (according to govenment) is to fit them up with the appropriate piece of paper for their chosen profession.

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......acquiring the needed experience before embarking on an MBA, as an example.:)

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But just a single example. There is no "right direction" for all students. They're adults and should anyway make their own decisions.