Disclaimer in advance, this article is just my personal opinion, purely based on facts. I hope the ideas in this article can help and inspire you.
Many friends will ask me, why do I have to go to a good university? Why are Harvard University in the United States or the University of Melbourne in Australia or Fudan University in Shanghai or Jiaotong University in Shanghai and Tongji University in Shanghai where I am studying for a doctorate etc. Why do so many people yearn to enter these institutions of higher learning every year?
Nowadays, “the theory that education is useless” is circulating on the Internet… In fact, this is nothing new. Since this view has received attention and even recognition, there must be a reason for its existence, right? The most obvious thing is that many of today’s business elites and industry leaders do not have the halo of top universities, let alone a lot of life winners in the literary and art circles. Take Bill Gates, for example: Even though he got into Harvard, he started his business empire after dropping out.
But I would like to take this opportunity to re-explain the logic of the “educational degree is useless theory” for everyone: because education is not necessarily linked to “success” in later life, education is not necessary, and where to get it is not so important. Going to a good university is not absolute. But have you ever thought…. Is going to university just to pave the way for future careers? When was going to school reduced to such a utilitarian thing?
Let me put aside “success” for a while and ignore the matter of “adding chips for future career development”. What good is going to an excellent and top university? Based on my own experience in studying at the University of Melbourne in Australia and Tongji University in Shanghai, I would like to share my humble opinion.
I personally think that excellent universities not only teach you knowledge and skills, but also teach you how to learn knowledge and grow skills. This is called applying what you have learned.
As we all know, studying at a good university is almost never without tiring.
The textbooks used by excellent universities and ordinary universities are often similar, which means that the content and difficulty of the knowledge learned are not very different. Economics students have to learn from the supply and demand curve of microeconomics, and English and American literature students have to read Shakespeare. In my opinion, the key difference in learning between excellent universities and ordinary universities lies not in “what to learn” but in “how to learn”… The methods and processes of learning are sometimes really different.
On the same topic, students in ordinary universities may only master the basic knowledge, memorize some simple concepts, do some practice questions, and try it out; students in excellent universities may be taught by professors, small class discussions, extracurricular research, literature reading, and paper writing. A variety of methods are used to digest a knowledge point in a profound and three-dimensional manner.
I remember when I was studying for a master’s degree at the University of Melbourne, Australia, one of the subjects required a course on game theory. At the beginning of the class, the professor took us to watch “Beautiful Mind”, a film about John Nash, a master of game theory and a professor at Princeton University, which gave us a preliminary understanding of Nash and the beauty of game theory. When learning the most basic “Nash Equilibrium” in game theory, the professor not only explained the concept through classic examples such as “Prisoner’s Dilemma”, but also let our class try to design different game theory scenario questions, and let the classmates find it “Nash Equilibrium”.
The learning of a knowledge point can lead to various learning practices, and each learning deepens our understanding of this knowledge. To this day, the various concepts of game theory are still fresh in my memory, which must be attributed to deep learning at the time.
At the University of Melbourne, Australia, my graduation thesis can be said to be extremely hard to write. In order to sort out the arguments of the dissertation, I often had to read a lot of related books, go to the library frequently, search for information on the Internet, and from time to time I needed to exchange opinions face-to-face with professors.
At that time, I didn’t dare to be sloppy in the process of writing my graduation thesis. The logic of the article, the choice of words, etc. had to be treated solemnly; References must be clearly listed, otherwise the graduation thesis will be regarded as plagiarism and may be held accountable. I remember that when I finished my graduation thesis, and when my graduation thesis was affirmed by the professor, I cried with joy outside the professor’s office.
Many friends around me have asked me, is it really necessary to go through so much torture and experience? As someone who has come here to share my experience, to be honest, when I stayed up all night studying hard, there were times when I was so tired that I wanted to give up. But the sense of achievement and progress after learning is like the infinite rejoicing after tasting good tea. Needless to say, the knowledge is very solid, and the more important gains are the various abilities improved by deep learning: reading, writing, analysis, critical thinking, etc. Taken together, these abilities enhance a person’s self-learning ability. And good self-study ability is not only helpful in studying, but also benefiting me immensely in my workplace practice.
After graduating from the University of Melbourne, Australia, I still maintain close contact with many good classmates, and I am proud of being an alumni of the University of Melbourne. It is no exaggeration to say that there are many graduates of the University of Melbourne in every corner of the earth who are actively changing the world. Even a small town with only ten graduates of the University of Melbourne can set up an alumni association. And in every corner of the earth, there are thousands of Melbourne University graduates, from old men to young lads, are active in alumni activities.
After graduation I always like to travel in a T-shirt with the “University of Melbourne” logo on it. The logo of this university has also helped me meet alumni several times. Once when I was traveling to London, England, I was wearing a T-shirt with a university logo on the street at dusk to take photos, when a middle-aged woman walked over and asked excitedly in English, “Are you studying at the University of Melbourne?” At that time, she heard that I was graduating with a master’s degree from the University of Melbourne, and she squeezed my hand even more excitedly and congratulated me on completing my studies. Then she said to me, “I also graduated from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and I am currently teaching at a university in London!” I never thought that I could meet a collage senior on the streets of London, England. I was also very excited at that time. Then we two strangers went to a nearby cafe for a cup of coffee and chatted about our past life at the University of Melbourne. Before leaving, the alumnus handed me a business card and said to me: “Kaka, next time you come to the UK, as long as you are in London, please contact me.”
Speaking of everything about the University of Melbourne, I have an inexplicable excitement, which seems to be a bit far. In a word, if you want to pursue further studies a few years after graduation, get to know a group of people with high IQ and EQ, and become friends or business partners or lovers with these people, and let them bring you a steady stream of positive influences and changes. You should work harder and get admitted to an excellent and top university when you study for a master’s degree. I believe that those who apply for a master’s degree and further study are more or less self-motivated people. Such people should also hope to be in the company of excellent people, rather than people who are immersed in eating, drinking, and having fun all day long.
I can only say that an excellent university will bring a good atmosphere to a person. Everyone knows the truth that “One takes the behavior of one’s company.” There is also a more popular theory, which says that the level of a person’s level is about the average level of the five people with whom she interacts the most. To me, these five people are almost classmates and professors who get along with each other day and night. All I can say is: if you want to be a good person, you’d better spend more time with people who are better than you.
To study in a good university, the key to “good” is “people”. There is no good university that is not rich in humanities and elites. If you can get into a top-notch university, you will have the opportunity to meet all kinds of talents on campus. By taking classes with them, doing homework, exercising, chatting, traveling, or falling in love, you will always be loved by them. shrouded in positive energy, unknowingly absorb their advantages and gradually become a better self.
One of the most honored achievements of my doctorate at Tongji University in Shanghai is that I have become mentors, classmates and good friends with a group of “super-powerful” people. Every student studying for a doctorate at Tongji University in Shanghai is “powerful” in different ways. There are “powerful” in terms of talent, “powerful” in terms of experience, and “powerful” in terms of family background.
These amazing classmates and I are usually 9-5 office workers. On weekends, we have to drag our tired bodies and rub our sleepy eyes together to catch the first class in the morning, read in the library until dawn, and have a big party in the evening. We drink and sing, and sometimes we go to museums and art galleries together. We discuss profound topics such as political democracy, biological experiments and ethics, gay rights, etc., and we will talk about life and future life plans together under the stars. Every doctoral student at Tongji University in Shanghai releases positive energy, chasing after each other in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere. With such a group of people, I don’t dare to be lazy at all, let alone become decadent. Those students with prominent backgrounds did not have the slightest air of being a scumbag. From them, I felt understated, humble and polite.
The professors of Tongji University in Shanghai are a group of top figures who lead the academia and whose influence extends to various fields such as politics, business, literature and art. In addition to being able to get close to the legendary “top figures” in class, I am also fortunate to have exchanges with professors in life, for example: learning the tea ceremony with a Japanese female professor, and spending time with the warm and hospitable German female professor’s home dinner (with the Germans, of course, eating pork knuckles and drinking beer), delving into aromatherapy with a French female professor, etc.
If the two “goods” of shaping the learning ability that will benefit you for a lifetime and outstanding teachers and students still cannot convince you to make up your mind to strive for admission to a good university, then I will talk about the actual “good”. The opportunities and resources that good universities bring to their students are often top-notch. If you seize a good opportunity, your starting point may be higher than others, and you will directly enter the fast lane of life development after graduating with a master’s or doctoral degree. A good university, a good platform, and a good opportunity… These three points are absolutely necessary.
Most people in society will only go to college once in their lifetime, and some will go on to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree. There are only a few opportunities to enter the campus in a lifetime, so why not get into a top and excellent university? There are so many good things about a top and excellent university that I can’t cover them all in this article…. A good university has many other “good things”: for example, better dining halls, more beautiful campuses, and more scholarships, etc.
Finally, I would like to sum up that getting into an excellent and top university is really not only for obtaining relevant qualifications, but also for becoming a better self.
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