Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ukma!rutgers!gatech!bloom-beacon!husc6!amcad!stech!sysop
From: sysop@stech.UUCP (Jan Harrington)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: The need for an advanced degree
Message-ID: <697@stech.UUCP>
Date: 11 Jan 89 13:13:09 GMT
References: <8901101352.AA22246@decwrl.dec.com>
Organization: Scholastech, Inc., Waltham, Mass.
Lines: 51

in article <8901101352.AA22246@decwrl.dec.com>, ciarfella@levers.dec.com (Paul Ciarfella) says:
> 
> 
> 	To the educators out there ...
> 
> 	Have you found any differences between working with a masters
> 	candidate who has been in industry, ie., has work experience,
> 	and a candidate who is going straight from BS to MS?
> 
Yes, there are differences, some good and some bad.

> 	Which candidates work harder?  
It depends on the individual. Often people who are working are older than
people who just got their bachelors. They have families, jobs, and other
responsibilties. They don't have the time to put in to a class as they
might have when they were younger.
 
> 	Which seem to understand and grasp their work better?
 
People with experience bring maturity to the analysis of problems, as
well as what they've learned in the workplace. However, many have been
out of school for a time, and are out of the habit of working with
theoretical material. Therefore, people going directly from the BS have
an easier time with theory, but can't temper it with reality; people
who've been working have trouble with theory. The ideal graduate class
has a mixture of both types of students so they can benefit from each
other.
> 	Which are more cooperative, ie., who is the better team player
> 	when working on group projects?
 Ah, this one's easy - the students coming directly from the BS. People
who are working are generally negative about group projects, simply
because the logistics are difficult. They also have to deal with 
committees at work and are really fed up with the group experience.
> 
> 	Who would you rather teach?  Why?
Like I said above, I like classes with both types of students, since the
people with experience bring their practical wisdom to the class and
the people straight out of a BS program bring an ability to cope with
theory.
> 
Jan Harrington, sysop
Scholastech Telecommunications
UUCP: husc6!amcad!stech!sysop or allegra!stech!sysop
BITNET: JHARRY@BENTLEY

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