From Flagship State university undergrad to Ivy leaque Grad school - Possible?

College Life
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<p>(Please pardon my grammar, it has been a long day...and also read the whole thing if you have enough patience.)</p>

<p>Let me introduce myself and say that I am a pretty bright but extremely lazy student. I find high school very pointless, other than the fact that it gets us into college. The content, the lack of quality of the majority of the teachers, and the repetitiveness of practically everything all contribute to the fact that arguably you are wasting four years of your life learning nothing. I like to argue that you will not only learn this material in college, but you you learn it far better then in a crappy state-funded room using the cheapest materials possible.</p>

<p>I am not going to say I am a genius like most people would on this forum, but defining someone who got a 2400 and a 4.0 is pretty closed minded and ridiculous. My stats are a above average 2000 SAT and a 3.4 GPA with 6 AP's, which I am I am proud of and not proud of in many ways. My first choice is McGill university in Montreal, Canada, while my second and more realistic choice is University of Connecticut. Seeing that it is not logical to expect the best, I am fully prepared to go to Uconn when the time comes.</p>

<p>Ironically, my father went to Uconn undergrad, NYU Mount Sinai Med school, and then to Yale for residency, and he is fully committed to send me to Uconn, mostly because of the price-to-education ratio, and how it "blows everything else out of the water". My father is probably the smartest man I know, and I am not just saying that because he is my father. His reasoning makes sense, and arguably most private schools are just about the money. My plan is most likely go to Uconn (hopefully McGill), and go to Business school, and then go into doctorate studies with a focus on engineering.</p>

<p>Uconn is probably one of the most well known, if not most recognized school in Connecticut. Everyone in my highschool applies there, even the "geniuses" and idiots, with each thinking that Uconn is either their backup or the best party school you can go too. Its academic rating is rising each year, and the in state cost is exceptional compared to pretty much every other competitive college. Uconn is best described as our flagship state school, and is rated the best public university in New England.</p>

<p>So I know Uconn is the number one public university in New England right now, so let me start off by saying that I know that it's a good school with good advantages. However, I like to look at the bigger picture of things, and I would argue that graduate school is more important than undergraduate. I have also known that I have always wanted to go to some kind of Ivy league university for graduate school. As of now, during my senior year in highschool, this seems like a far fetched dream. Seeing that Uconn is probably going to be the school I go to, my real worry is Uconn itself.</p>

<p>I have recently heard that only about a handful of students who graduated from Uconn receive admission to Ivy League graduate schools. I even heard that only one student was accepted to harvard in the past couple of years, which seems like baloney. However, as right or wrong this my be, the source that told me this does have a point: even though Uconn is considered good by many in Connecticut, what are the chances of getting into an ivy league school after you graduate? Uconn is neither a University of California or University of Michigan, nor could you say it's even a University of Florida. It definitely not a Carnegie Mellon or Tufts University either. My biggest concern is my future, and as of now, Uconn seems to be one of the only choices I have.</p>

<p>In all, I would like to know someone's opinion on this. My question is that do a lot of "Uconn" type graduates get into ivy league schools for graduate studies? In other words, do a lot of kids who graduate from flagship universities get accepted into Ivy league graduate programs?</p>

<p>Please, I beg you to not answer with bull answers like "college is what you make of it" or "if you try hard enough". With my current knowledge and assumptions, my argument would be that to even have a chance, you would not only need to be in the honors program, you would have to graduate with a very good GPA, in addition to a lot of EC's and some awards. Even then, you would probably have to be ranked very very high up in your class. Even with these stats, I would still be skeptical.</p>

<p>I originally posted this on Uconn's forum, so replace Uconn with your flagship state school.</p>

<p>Anyone have any insights, thoughts, perspectives?</p>

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<p>It’s possible, of course. Not easy, though, as you seem to have gathered. Like you said, you would have to have a great GPA, excellent test scores, etc. just like you would if you were applying undergrad. My issue with this post is why a self-described lazy student who finds school to be pointless would have any interest in attending and Ivy League institution.</p>

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<p>I love school I never said school in general is pointless whatsoever. I greatly appreciate every aspect of higher education, and would never think otherwise. Please do not misunderstand what I am saying.</p>

<p>I did say that highschool, up to a point, is pointless, and I am lazy in highschool. There is a difference between not liking highschool and not liking real education. Maybe its just Senior year and i am ready to move onto bigger and better things, but at the moment, this is my mindset.</p>

<p>As of now, I am taking 3 AP classes this senior year. I work as hard in my AP classes as much as my regular classes, which consequently is giving me lower grades in AP classes and maximum grades in normal classes. I could also argue that we will learn what we are doing in these AP classes during our first year of college. Not only will I have a firm understanding already, but if I decide to not take the college credit, these classes during my first year in college would be a good GPA booster for the long run. I consider myself lazy because I don’t do any homework that I could do at school during the day, and that I work in a “lazy” fashion in all of my classes.</p>

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<p>Both of my parents went to state schools for undergrad and Yale for law school. I would say it’s possible.</p>

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<p>Alright, any details? Were they the Very top of their class?</p>

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<p>I do appreciate the feeling of apathy towards the end of high school; I was the same way, but when my college classes came around I really took to them, and my GPA is far above my 3.3 from high school.</p>

<p>I think that one thing you need to realize, though, is that getting into an Ivy League graduate school is going to be hard REGARDLESS of where you go, and that is the truth. I have graduate school ambitions as well - as an example, in Classics, my field, Harvard accepts around eight applicants a year (and that is during a good year!). Obviously, you are going to have to rise to the top of the stack of applications they receive, and when it comes down to it the name of your school is not going to help you as much as you might hope. </p>

<p>I don’t have any real information about UConn’s business school - though I do have a sneaking suspicion that UConn’s reputation for a lack of intellectual heft may be caused by it - but if you have doctorate Engineering goals I’d strongly urge you to consider the School of Engineering before anything, especially something as unrelated as business. </p>

<p>If you have any other questions about UConn directly, though, I’d be happy to answer them. UConn is an excellent school and very underappreciated by people in state - the “party school” designation (which really only applies to off campus and Spring Weekend) has done a huge disservice in disguising the real academic opportunity that is available here.</p>

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<p>The BEST answer I have gotten all day. You are a true intellectual. Thank you so much for an answer that is both truthful yet encouraging. With the same thread I posted on the high school life forum, I just wish to get some answers with more ‘content’.</p>

<p>Thanks so much.</p>

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<p>Undergrad and grad school have very little correlation. The only reason top undergrad schools send more grads to top grad schools is because of self-selection. If brighter students are going to these “higher ranked” schools, they produce more grad school quality.</p>

<p>High GPA and test scores are usually the most critical grad school factors by a long shot.</p>

<p>And the Ivy League isn’t a meaningful distinction. Cornell Law, for instance, is less prestigous than public school law schools like UVA and Michigan.</p>

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<p>Very true, thanks.</p>

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<p>LSU pretty much hit it on the spot. Your undergrad is largely unimportant; in order to get into any ivy league undergrad you’re going to need a 3.8-4.0 and top percentile test scores/qualifications, no matter if you graduated from Yale or your flagship.</p>

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<p>Just make sure that if you’re looking to go to business school, you work on keeping your grades up, networking, and landing a good internship junior year so that you either get an offer to return full-time (or get better offers). Since many business schools require work experience, doing that is key</p>

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<p>Kids from big state Us end up at Ivy grad schools. My state Us aren’t even as recognized as Uconn and they sent some kids to Ivy business, med schools. What matters is that you take all of the oppurtunities that the big schools have to offer. Like at my flagship the engineering kids (even freshmen) had the oppurtunity to build a satelitte for NASA. There is a ton of oppurtunity in those big schools if you know where to look! (Don’t forget an awesome GPA, but that’s kind of obvious.)</p>

<p>It’s going to be tough no matter where you go, so you might as well choose a place with great ways to stand out!</p>