Just google the terms “Arizona State B.A. Harvard” and you should be able to find people with degrees from both.
@HappyAlumnus - Tried that already.
crseven, so did I and it showed people who had degrees from both places.
you’re going through all this trouble… for what purpose? If your google search pulls up five or five thousand – what does it mean to you and your chances?
When and if the time comes to search out grad programs (given your GPA, rec letters, research, work experience, test scores), you’ll look for the best schools in your field. Sorry to rock your world, but the eight ivies don’t have a death grip on the top grad department of every area of study. Please go back and re-read @snarlatron 's post (#15) – you’re proving yourself to be the naif mentioned in that post.
@HappyAlumnus - Did you get results of people who graduated from both respectively in the last 10 years? 'Cos that’s what I’ve mentioned in my first post.
Don’t you have a 1520 / 2400 on SAT?
Tackle undergrad first and do well. Plenty of time for grad school planning.
^This: you were a B+ HS student with a 1520/2400 SAT, taking a gap year, re-taking your SAT, international student, either applying to or accepted into ASU — asking about Harvard grad school in Computer Science.
Let me say for the last time: this thread will leave you frustrated because 1) the answers are irrelevant to your eventual chances and 2) what your actual next steps have NOTHING to do with grad school, Harvard or elsewhere.
Please focus on getting into ASU and getting fantastic grades first.
Frankly, and I don’t mean this in an unkind way, you are going to look back on this posting in a few years and have a good chuckle at its naivety. ASU has had Rhodes Scholars winners and even more (obviously) finalists. Of course they have had undergrads that went onto grad school at one of the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Cal Tech, Michigan, Berkeley, etc. in areas ranging from chemistry to anthropology to medieval history. Having gone to grad school at a top 5 program in my field and being involved in higher education matters for many years, I know this to be true without having to be able to “name names”. I would more than bet my house on it.
I think what you might be worried about, and at the heart of your question, is if ASU is not considered “good enough” by these top grad schools for you to have a chance. Well, first of all ASU is plenty “good enough” and second, it really doesn’t work that way. A top grad program will look at your GPA in that major, your overall GPA, your GRE results, and your recommendations. If you are applying in a research oriented field like a science, a track record of some research is good, especially at these top grad schools. The bottom line is they look far more at your track record than at where you went undergrad, as long as you went someplace accredited.
So the advice you got above is actually good, if a bit snarky at times. Focus on doing really well as an undergrad, develop a good relationship with a prof in your field, and you should be fine.
In moderator mode now. I know the question seems naive to those that are far more knowledgeable about these kinds of things than a 17 year old student. But that is what College Confidential is here for, to help inform those that need information. Also, he asked a fairly specific question. Of course it is fine to point out that there are great grad programs in every field besides the Ivies, but some of you came off as lecturing and condescending. The Terms of Service require that we make other members feel comfortable, welcome and accepted. Some of you strayed from that by a fair amount. Try to remember how naive you were at that age, especially about something like grad school.
@fallenchemist - Thanks. Finally some information. And yeah, I don’t mean this in an unkind way, but right in the beginning of my first post, I’ve specified that I understand GPA, recommendations and GRE results matter and just wanted info on some stats. Thanks for providing that. You’ve helped me make a decision.
If you understand my how much my country’s job opportunities count on the prestige and ranking of the universities that they select their employers on (MAJORLY in the Computer Science field, one which I’m pursuing), then you’d understand the sadness behind my question and how I’ve gotta accept reality. It means that I don’t like the way they employ people here, or the way we ‘rank’ colleges either. I agree with what you all say. Those are my thoughts so.
However, I will try my best to get a work visa in the States, but assuming that doesn’t happen, I will have to compensate in my country (that’s where the consideration for ‘prestige’ comes up) for the 200,000 bucks I spend paying for college and surviving as an undergrad.
Thank you again. This helped.
OK then. And just in case you make similar inquiries in the future, you provided a lot of information in that last post that would have been useful from the start for context. I don’t know about the others, but my default assumption when there is no other info is that you are a U.S. Citizen living here. You can’t assume that people are going to go digging into your other posts, if you even mention all this in some of them.
@fallenchemist - Have taken that into note. Will do. So what’s your reply to my last post, considering your college and job experience together? Can you help me make a decision to choose an undergrad school so that I can get into a grad school? I guess its possible from ASU, considering I study well? Any other suggestions to get into a top grad school?
No other suggestions, really. Study hard, get a great overall GPA, especially get a near perfect GPA in CS, do some interesting research with a prof (or even a couple of profs if there is a good cross-discipline research project going) and make sure to stay on their good side so you get great recs. I don’t know all the ins and outs of being able to work in this country on a student visa, but of course if you can and can get an interesting summer job in your field that can only be a plus. If you can’t, then sometimes the profs can let you continue your research in the summer, even pay you a little if they have the grant money. Again, I don’t know the legalities in your case.
ASU is a fine choice, actually. I think you are underrating it. I am not saying it has the reputation of UCLA or Michigan or some others, but it has some excellent professors in all areas. A person can come out of there with an education equal to any of those schools, and have had a good overall experience. I actually toured the campus with my daughter, because she got invited to their Honors College, Barrett. She had top stats (2330 SAT, 3.91 GPA UW, 4.5 W with tons of AP courses) and they were going to pay for everything, so we checked it out. She ended up elsewhere, but the campus and overall atmosphere seemed like an average to somewhat above average state school outside of the Honors College. What that means is that a serious student can absolutely do very well and have great post-graduate success, while the party student can have all the fun they want and usually slide by and graduate. That is not unusual at many of these large schools. Again, ASU has produced Rhodes Scholars. That tells you something.
Affordability is a huge issue for you, it seems. I am not sure I understand your situation completely in that regard, but you should definitely do anything you can to keep your debt down. I will tell you that if you do as well as I describe as an undergrad, grad school as a Ph.D. candidate will most likely be paid for by the school, including a stipend for room and board because you will be a TA as well. There are exceptions, but that is usually the case for doctoral students. So I would look for schools that have decent CS departments that can help you with the costs, if possible. I know for internationals that is very tough most of the time.
@fallenchemist - I don’t clearly understand the last paragraph, but I get the idea. The following question may be stupid but I really have no idea when it comes to grad school. Is it necessary to have a research on something going on (with my professors or without them) to get a good relationship going on with professors and to get good recommendations? Is it also compulsory to do if I wanna get an M.S degree at a top grad school? Or will good grades and gre results along with personal statements and a job rèsumé do (of course including recommendations)?
For a masters the research is not an issue, because that is not a research degree. Everything else applies. I was speaking more about a Ph.D. You can get good recs from profs without doing research with them, but you have to do something so they get to know you, especially at a huge school like ASU. So for a couple of the profs that you like go see them during office hours, and somehow maintain the relationship even after you are not in their class. Otherwise getting a rec that sounds personal is not easy. Another way is to take a graduate level class when you are a junior or first semester senior. Those classes tend to be small, and again you can see the prof outside of class as well.
Also, the student almost always pays for a masters. There are exceptions, but they are rare and even rarer for an international. I don’t know how common this still is, but I think when the time comes you will want to see if some companies might pay for your masters after you have been there awhile. It seems possible, at least, that companies like Google, Facebook, and other leading edge companies might do this. But of course those policies change, so when you are in your senior year of college you can assess the landscape.