Berkeley and Beyond?

<p>Is it possible to get into great grad schools like harvard law or one of columbia's many grad programs in poli sci w/ an undergradutate degree in political science from berkeley? What GPA do you have to maintain, what else would help? Is it more difficult coming from berkeley than from other schools because of all of the competition (large undergrad class)? Has anyone been fortunate enough to have such an experience, or know friends who have gone on from berkeley to other equally fantastic institutions for their graduate degree?</p>

<p>Best Question Ever</p>

<p>exactly my thoughts!</p>

<p>Um, of course. I think Berkeley's name does help in grad schools. I know two people who went to Berkeley for undergrad (one of whom didn't like his experience), and both would say that its name got them into top grad schools: one is now at Yale Law, the other was accepted to MIT and a few others (though ultimately chose Berkeley for grad school--and funnily enough, he was the one who didn't like his undergrad experience at Berkeley =p).</p>

<p>If you'd really like to see what grad schools Berkeley undergrads go to, see this:</p>

<p>Career</a> Center - What Can I Do With a Major In..?</p>

<p>Choose a major and scroll down to 'graduate schools.' For poli sci, I see lots of big-name grad schools there: Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, U Chicago, Cornell, Duke, etc. (I see Harvard quite a bit.)</p>

<p>wait only like 6% of Haas graduates go on to grad school? i thought most people would want an MBA....?</p>

<p>Career</a> Center - What Can I Do With a Major In...?</p>

<p>MBA programs usually don't take applicants who have little work experience, ie. those who just graduated with business administration bachelor's degree.</p>

<p>tastybeef...is that just from your experience? or is that common knowledge that i just dont know</p>

<p>Some schools actually list 2+ years of work experience as an admission requirement. Yes, requirement -- not recommendation. It's one of the rare post-baccalaureate programs that actually asks you to take some time in between your B.A. and pursuing your graduate degree.</p>

<p>^^^</p>

<p>The requirement is 2 years, but the average is closer to 4. No top MBA accepts anyone without significant work experience -- with very, very few exceptions.</p>