Hi,
Typically, what factors do grad schools look at when considering admission? I’m talking about top-tier EECS/CS schools like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, and CMU:
- Do they look at undergraduate school name/prestige?
- Do they look at internships/research over the past few years?
- Most importantly, do they look at GPA with regards to the undergrad school you went to? (i.e. would they forgive a low-mid range GPA if you went to a competitive school with grade deflation/competition?)
Thanks!
- A little, and really only so far as figuring out how your GPA compares to that of their own undergrads. But "top-tier" schools are selecting from candidates who don't need that adjustment anyway.
- Internships no, research YES. Undergrad research is one of the biggest factors in admissions, as it is direct preparation for grad research. Internships generally neither prepare for nor predict graduate success.
- Probably not, depending on what you call "low-mid range". Bear in mind that even at tough schools there are a lot of undergrads with high GPAs, and "top-tier" grad programs have no reason to cut applicants slack - they are turning down LOTS of students with 3.9 GPAs!
Top programs will be looking for a 3.5+ GPA (3.8+ for some!) before they even take a closer look at your application. At that point they focus on your research. Some people are able to compensate for a sub-particular GPA by leveraging connections made through their research, but there are limits to how forgiving they will be with the GPA even then.