Not a Safe Bet, But A More Exciting Program

As a person who finished two Masters (in Education then later in Psychology), I do wonder whether my buck had made a bang yet.  Nowadays, I like to answer with "Maybe yes... Maybe no.", the all-time response of Scottish castle/inn owner in Little Britain, because the result is still not clear after peeling off the myths surrounding graduate programs.  I bet many others are pondering the same thing especially those who are deciding if they should take the plunge.  The investment in education seems to become a riskier choice after stories about false advertisement (involving big wig names such as Le Cordon Bleu) and heavy debt of student loans have surfaced within the recent years.

So when I read these lines, "One thing the students have in common is being excited, not intimidated, by doing something so untested. Mr. Krum called it “the hottest ticket to the hottest show in town.”, my first reaction was, "Hmmmmm.... interesting."  I wish I could say the same thing about my own students. In a time that so many uncertainties play into one's success, to embrace the unknown is one of the essential skills we must have.  

"Building a Better Tech School", article earlier this week from New York Times, cast the attention on the most popular tech campus, Chelsea.  Google's "invasion" in this neighborhood and its well-spread perks (free cafeteria, etc.) has already built buzz around this area.  However, the graduate program on applied science from the Cornell and Technion collaboration,  Cornell Tech, is truly ground breaking, in my humble opinion.  This is not the first time that higher education institution decide to join hands with the business world.  What set Cornell Tech apart is the way the program structures itself, making it more relevant, more fluid, and more failure/learning-experience-friendly (a coined word by myself).  These are not qualities we would necessarily connect to a computer science/engineering program, and I am not sure calling Cornell Tech's program, a computer science program is fair either.  Perhaps, it is the new direction universities are heading, at least indicated in the article.

Many are guessing whether the Big Apple will become another tech capital.  Many are calculating when they can pay off their student loans.  One thing for sure is that if you decide to go to Cornell Tech (and get there in September), you will be in the City, lots of fun, perks just naturally coming with the location.

Read the entire NYTimes' article here; http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/education/edlife/cornell-nyc-tech-planned-for-roosevelt-island-starts-up-in-chelsea.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&emc=eta1