How important is your undergrad university?

[cmrocks]

I'm curious about this. I'm a 2nd year chemistry student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. It's a good, well-respected school but is by no means an amazing or elite school.

My family recently located to South America because of my Dad's job. I've been offered a chance to move with them and complete my degree there. The school I would be attending is the top in the country (Colombia) and is a bilingual school. The lectures are in Spanish obviously but 90% of the readings are in English.

I've already talked to the university and they said they are quite forgiving regarding language issues. I know a bit of Spanish now and they said if I took two intensive Spanish courses (240 hours of study in 3 months) in their center for Spanish as a foreign language that I would have no problem doing normal course work there.

This is something that really appeals to me. I've been to Colombia before and really like it there. I would also be able to work part time there with my Dad. My Dad works in mining and I've been working with him in one way or another since I was 13. I know this is the industry I want to end up in. I also know that I would really like to work in countries other than Canada. I haven't spent too much time in Latin America but I really like what I do know of it.

My biggest concern would be whether or not I'd really regret transfering out of UBC. I don't particularly like studying here. I just don't want to limit myself by getting a degree from a less well known university. I don't really plan on going to grad school. I want to finish my degree then start working full time.

What do you guys think?

 

[MetroStyles]

It really depends on what field you plan to go into. If its banking/consulting, school absolutely matters, as they only recruit at a top few.

 

[thinman]

I'm a chemistry professor and UBC chemistry is known and respected as a solid department. Though your personal reasons may outweigh the professional, I think it would be a professional mistake to transfer to a school in Colombia that most people don't know. Unless you wish to work in S. America, most people will not know the school, so the perception (rightly or wrongly) will be that your degree is second-rate and your skills are suspect. You'll have to work hard to convince people otherwise.

 

[cmrocks]

Thanks.

Well I do want to work in South America at least for the time being. I don't really have anything holding me here in Canada.

I'll undoubtedly be working in mineral exploration. I've been involved in the field in someway since I was 13 and it's something I absolutely love. Mining is a pretty small community and, from what I've heard, your reputation and skills say a lot more than your resume does.

I definately agree that the degree isn't going to be as respected. I'm just wondering if that a B.Sc is really looked at that much? I'm involved more in the operation and logistical side of things right now working with my Dad. I'm not studying geology so I don't think my schooling is something they are going to look at too closely.

 

[DNW]

Originally Posted by thinman

Unless you wish to work in S. America, most people will not know the school, so the perception (rightly or wrongly) will be that your degree is second-rate and your skills are suspect. You'll have to work hard to convince people otherwise.

I agree with thinman here. Unfortunately, employers will likely judge you at first glance on your academic pedigree. You might not even get a chance to prove your skills.

With that said, if you'll gain a ton of work experience and another language (although everyone seems to know Spanish nowadays) while studying in another country, this might come off as an asset for potential employers that do not simply screen out based on school reputation.

Is your field specialized enough so that your work experience reflects more about your skill rather than your undergrad reputation?

 

[thinman]

Originally Posted by DucatiCole

Well I do want to work in South America at least for the time being. I don't really have anything holding me here in Canada.

... Mining is a pretty small community and, from what I've heard, your reputation and skills say a lot more than your resume does.


This may be enough to negate my previous post. If you know people in positions of power and have a good reputation with them, you may be innoculated against pedigree bias.

 

[maacone]

If you stay at UBC, you'll be getting a degree that's recognised worldwide and that will help later on. You can't really say the same for any Columbian universities.

 

[cmrocks]

nt

 

[jkennett]

I'd stay at UBC if I were in your position. Perhaps you can overload credits and take summer classes to finish early if you want to get to work in Colombia asap. However, I have several friends from that region (central and south america) who came to the United States and Canada specifically to attend university. They unanimously told me that having a degree from up here was considered to be far superior to one from their own countries. These kids also had "connections" in their home countries as their parents included CEO's and even a President of a Central American country. So, my opinion would be to finish school where you are, and then go ahead and move to Colombia and utilize those connections.

 

[globetrotter]

a different take - my wife is from colombia. many of her school friends are working at fantastic jobs, because they leveraged a combination of north american/european schooling with latin american schooling. as a canadian, having completed a degree in colombia, in spanish, gives you a serious edge in certain fields. nobody goes to colombia to get a BA in a differnet language because they were too stupid or too lazy to finish their degree in their mother tongue. the assumption will be that it was a stretch for you, and that it gave you good spanish.

this, however, would be if you are interested in a job with a multinational. how a a canadian mining company would look at it is entirely beyound my scope of experience.

 

[cmrocks]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

a different take - my wife is from colombia. many of her school friends are working at fantastic jobs, because they leveraged a combination of north american/european schooling with latin american schooling. as a canadian, having completed a degree in colombia, in spanish, gives you a serious edge in certain fields. nobody goes to colombia to get a BA in a differnet language because they were too stupid or too lazy to finish their degree in their mother tongue. the assumption will be that it was a stretch for you, and that it gave you good spanish.

this, however, would be if you are interested in a job with a multinational. how a a canadian mining company would look at it is entirely beyound my scope of experience.

Thanks. This is sort of what I had in mind and my reasoning behind wanting to do it.

I've talked to UBC and it will be on their records that I left this university with a good standing and transfered to another school to complete my degree. They said that will always stand. I think that alone will look good on a resume.

There are hundreds and hundreds of Canadian junior mining companies that do work almost solely in Latin America. I've spent enough time in Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Chile) to know that I want to spend a significant portion of the next years of my life there. I'd like to use my current work experience, the fact that I studied there and the fact that I'll be working there over the next several years to leverage myself into a position that I want.

 

[Matt]

can you do a study abroad thing in Colombia via UBC? I did two years in the US that way.

May get the best of both worlds out of that in that your degree is from UBC, but your study is done in Colombia.

You will have to go back and clean up some units here and there, but it is definitely worth looking in to.

 

[jessetk313]

I don't think undergrad schools really matter much. It is where you go to graduate school. I learned this from my girlfriends step-father. He went to George Mason and then got a Graduate degree from University of Penn and told that the degree from Penn is all people look at. Now if you plan on not getting a graduate degree then the undergraduate school will be very important, but then again why not just the 6 years instead of the 4 to get the extra degree?

 

[tiecollector]

As long as you go to a decent school, it doesn't matter. With globalization and the sellouts in big business and government I think the more prestigious school you go to will hurt you because they will have to pay you more.

If you plan on going to grad school, I know at the UC I went to, you are less likely to get in at the same UC you got your undergrad at in an attempt to diversify. If you go to grad school, just get a decent GPA and do well on the GRE.

In most workplaces though, the MBA hiring you won't know the difference between schools or majors. Do your own projects, if anything. I did my own projects instead of homework and my GPA reflected it, but employers were impressed by the projects I had put down on my resume.

 

[cmrocks]

Originally Posted by m@T

can you do a study abroad thing in Colombia via UBC? I did two years in the US that way.

May get the best of both worlds out of that in that your degree is from UBC, but your study is done in Colombia.

You will have to go back and clean up some units here and there, but it is definitely worth looking in to.

I did look into that but unfortunately the faculty of science doesn't like it if you complete upper level courses at an external university. I have an appeal meeting for that with the director of academics so we'll see. I'm hoping that works out. I want to see if I can leave for two years, study in Colombia and then return to UBC for one year to finish up.