<p>For getting into grad school, are they going to favor people at higher-ranking Universities or will they judge you mostly based on merit/performance? </p>
<p>For instance, does it look better to have a 3.8 from Notre Dame than a 3.8 at University of Indiana or something? </p>
<p>I hate to be picky, but it is called Indiana University not University of…</p>
<p>To your question, it normally does not matter much, especially given that most graduate programs require the GRE. I went to a state university and was encouraged to apply to MIT graduate school by one of my undergraduate professors. I did not apply, but did feel confident that I could have gotten in. I had a friend who did.</p>
<p>For the most part, the name of the university doesn’t matter. If you are looking at PhD programs, the most important thing is your research experience. As long as you have decent grades/scores, GPA and GRE are not significant factors in the application process.</p>
<p>I might also point out that, based on my research on colleges for the past 18 months, there is almost no indication that elite schools are more rigorous than flagship state universities. For example, the president of Yale is on record stating that for every student they actually accept there are another ten applicants who are perfectly capable of thriving at Yale. No doubt the same is true of almost every other elite university, with the possible exceptions of MIT and U.Chicago which are known to truly challenge their students. So, basically, there is little reason to believe that a 3.8 at Notre Dame is a better grade than a 3.8 at Ohio State, or Indiana, or for that matter U.Tennessee or Washington State. This goes double for students who are STEM majors.</p>
<p>@NROTCgrad True. I’ve always known the reverse to be true. I had a professor my freshman year that told me he graduated high school with a 1.6 GPA. He somehow got into college, did really well his freshman year, transferred to a bigger name University, and then ended up getting his Masters from Purdue and a P.h.d from University of Chicago. </p>
<p>Then there are people that thrive in high school then lost their motivation, party too much, and flunk out. </p>
<p>High School record doesn’t tell the whole story and people can turn into great students in college or turn into poor ones. </p>
<p>Based on firsthand experiences I can say this:
I don’t think the name of the college or university matters so much, but the particular program does. Grad schools accept students who will thrive in their particular program. For example, I have a friend who graduated with a double major in literature and philosophy. He was applying to grad school for philosophy. He had an excellent GPA (A’s in every class) and was part of the honor’s society. He also had great recommendations, an internship, and a killer essay. We were all shocked when he was denied to every grad school he applied with the exception of GSU who wait listed him. However, the philosophy dept. where we went to school wasn’t great. It was a newer program at the school and they essentially didn’t require you to take into philosophy courses such as ethics and general philosophy. They also didn’t offer major classes that many of the grad schools required for admittance. He eventually was accepted to GSU after writing them a letter explaining why they should have him. </p>
<p>The short answer is, it depends.
It depends on what graduate schools and what graduate programs you’re talking about.
For medical school, it does not seem to matter much. For a doctorate in pure math, it apparently does. Attending a high-ranking college, especially one with a strong undergraduate focus, may give you better opportunities to get a strong LOR from a prominent professor (which might help more than the college brand, per se). For PhD programs, an especially important factor (along with your transcript) is that you have a mature interest in one or more research areas that align with the interests of your prospective mentors. You want to have a clear plan, preparation, and motivation to make an original contribution to knowledge in an area the grad school’s faculty care about. To develop that, you don’t necessarily need to attend a prestigious college. </p>
<p>As far as GPA is weighed, it’s based on strength of program. Coming from GPA deflator schools like Berkeley and Princeton, a 3.5 GPA is going to be considered worth more than a 3.5 GPA from a GPA inflator school or a program that’s not very strong/challenging. But in the end it’s generally up to individual performance and research ability.</p>
<p>I think it matters a lot. A simpler question to ask yourself. Do the top high schools send a much larger portion of students to the top colleges? Right there, I think you have your answer.</p>
<p>@pastwise It’s because they get a larger portion of the people who want to go to graduate school. It’s tough to determine whether Princeton grads would’ve gone onto graduate school had they gone to Rutgers instead or whether Princeton <em>made</em> them go on to grad school or made them more likely to get in.</p>
<p>It’s not the name of the school that matters, it’s how good of an education they’re offering. Usually, however, brand name schools like hpysm etc. tend to offer the best education and are put at an advantage over other schools. For example, kids applying to med school from Harvard will be at an advantage not just because they went to harvard, but because Harvard’s science programs are ranked number 1 in the country and produce some of the most qualified students.</p>
<p>Sooo if one obtains a high GPA (3.8+)/good research experience/great LORS & demonstrates good insight/skill for the subject as well as interests aligned with the desired department’s, would coming from a 40-50 program still be detrimental?</p>
<p>Lilliana330, relax, you will have a very good shot if you indeed get 3.8+ at a top 50 program at the end of your undergraduate study. But it’s easier said than done.</p>
<p>@pastwise Yeah, I know it’ll be tough…I feel like one of those 8th graders who ask to be “chanced” for undergrad lol. Thanks.</p>
<p>For a PhD program admissions, what matters is the strength of the department at your undergraduate school, in terms of whether it is thought (by the PhD program) to produce graduates who are good PhD students (obviously, a stronger department will have the undergraduate research opportunities that pre-PhD students typically look for). The strength of a particular department may not necessarily match with the general prestige ranking of the school as a whole. Also, subarea interests may matter, as some departments may be strong in some subareas of the major but not others.</p>
<p>However, such “rankings” are not public information, and can vary from one PhD program to another. Additionally, some PhD programs hold the idea that it is better to do bachelor’s and PhD study at different schools.</p>
<p>While most people on CC will tell your that your undergrad college won’t matter, this isn’t exactly true. People on here say you need good grades and good ‘research experience’. What is this good research experience? Say you to a no-name state school/small LAC and work with a professor who teaches at that school. How much weight will the adcom at top schools give to her recommendation for you? Probably not a lot. The fact is that top researchers join top universities and if you can work as their research assistants, they could open many doors for you, esp at top programs. LACs are touted on CC often because LACs offer superior teachers. But, simply because of the teaching load, those teachers just can’t produce research that would be published in top journals, which doesn’t really help your case. </p>
<p>What I said is applicable for PhD programs for the most part, especially for admission to a PhD in economics, which is super competitive.</p>
<p>Not sure where you get your info, but the teaching load at LACs is pretty much the same as it is for universities. Having a superstar professor at any school does you no good if you don’t have access to them - which is often the case for undergrads at many universities.</p>
<p>The type of school that is best for grad school differs from what might be considered the “best schools” people think of when applying to undergrad. As @International95 pointed out, a selective liberal arts school might be considered a fantastic undergrad school but not have the “top level research” that you could get at a state flagships.</p>
<p>@MrMom62 - The big thing required to get involved in research at bigger schools is initiative. No one is holding your hand, but there are usually opportunities if you put in the legwork to find/go after them.</p>
<p>I suppose someone has to clean out the rat cages for your first two years as an undergrad…</p>
<p>The are quality opportunities everywhere, it’s just easier to get them some places than others.</p>
<p>Well I don’t mean JUST the research part (and I’m quite sure assistants do more than just fetch coffee). Even if the researcher teaches an upperclass seminar and gets to know you and writes a recommendation for you, it would help a lot!</p>