Getting into a nice grad school from a public university

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>Hi all</p>

<p>I'll be a freshman next year at Ole Miss. It wasn't my first choice; in fact, I was accepted ED to Northwestern, but couldn't attend for financial reasons. </p>

<p>I definitely want to go to grad school afterward. Right now, I'm thinking about studying political sociology or something like that, with particular emphasis on China (My undergrad major will be in Chinese and International Studies).</p>

<p>I would really, really love to go to an Ivy League or something close for my graduate degree. I want to keep my eyes on that goal throughout my time at Ole Miss. I was hoping that some of you would be able to give me pointers about making myself a very competitive grad school applicant. </p>

<p>I'm almost completely in the dark about how the whole grad school application process works. I know research is a big deal, how does one go about that? Should I be pursuing research opportunities as early as freshman year? Are EC's as big a deal as when applying for undergrad?
How do I stand, coming from a large-ish, non-selective public university like Ole Miss? Will it help me or hurt me? </p>

<p>Any and all advice will be very welcome. I'm hoping this thread will also be useful to anyone else who finds themselves in a similar situation.</p>

2

<p>Bump…</p>

3

<p>well you will obviously need a good GPA, probably 3.5 and up, and also a good score on whatever test you made need to take GMAT?LSAT?MCAT?</p>

<p>your undergrad school want really hurt you as long as you have good grades</p>

4

<p>why do you want to go to an Ivy League school (or close) for graduate school? What are you going to do with a degree in political sociology? Be a professor? Do graduate degrees in “political sociology” exist? Do you think it’s smart to get an undergraduate degree in political science and then a graduate degree in sociology, where you will have minimal background? What is the chinese part of your education supposed to accomplish?</p>

<p>you need good grades and test scores, some good experience, and some quality recommendations.</p>

5

<p>maybe he means Poly Sci? but i can be wrong</p>

<p>but i agree with soccerguy Political Sociology sounds pretty useless, im assuming you want to get into Politics and in that case you really may only need law school, but then again politics is a hard field to get into, but once your in your in</p>

6

<p>soccerguy,</p>

<p>I did say that was my plan right now. I don’t know if it’s just the internet clouding your tone (that tends to happen), but I’m detecting a little hostility that doesn’t really seem merited. I’m just looking for a little advice.</p>

<p>My topic post originally had more detail on what I wanted to study, but I cut it to a minimal length because most people won’t bother to read something long here. I also wanted to leave the thread more open and generalized, so others could also benefit.</p>

<p>My main area of interest, beyond everything else, is China. I chose Ole Miss because it has a very intensive, immersive Chinese language program. The Chinese program there goes hand-in-hand with its selective International Studies major, which is also the source of most of my scholarship money.
But once I get past the language barrier, I really want to study the way China’s government has affected its people and vice-versa.
I would love to be able to use that understanding to get involved with China from the inside, perhaps as an employee of some international organization or even of the Chinese government, and possibly working with human rights and/or government reform. That’s the really nebulous part. I know there are a lot of maybes, but honestly, I’m not even a freshman yet… I expect the coming years to refine and inform my ideas until I have something realistic.</p>

<p>As for the Ivy League, there’s really only one Ivy League school that I would love to attend—Yale. Before Northwestern, Yale was my dream school. Believe it or not, it wasn’t the “name brand” aspect of Yale that drew me in; it was literally everything. I won’t bore you with a list of Yale’s positive attributes.
But that single-digit admit rate scared me away, and in a bout of cynicism I decided to apply ED to Northwestern instead, because it was more safe. That kind of backfired when I got accepted, but couldn’t afford it. (I’ve learned that taking risks isn’t always a bad thing.) Going to Yale for grad school would be completely, mind-blowingly amazing, and the fulfillment of something I’ve wanted for years and years.</p>

<p>Looking back over your post, I see it might not be as hostile as I thought at first read. Maybe you just want me to question myself and examine my motivations before committing to a long-term plan. I really appreciate that—the whole fiasco with Northwestern was basically caused by my getting my priorities mixed up. I don’t want to make the same mistake again, for sure.</p>

<p>My basic question, though, still hasn’t really been answered. Coming from a school like Ole Miss, will I be at an advantage or a disadvantage in the grad-school application process?</p>

7

<p>i hope you plan on moving to china, and No as-long as you have good grades it wont matter what school you come from.</p>

8

<p>if you want to go to graduate school, forget about the brand names, ivy league, and etc. Those are fluffy stuffs that only I-banking recruiter and gullible employer will care. You need to think more about your research interests and prospective advisors. There are plenty of Ph.D graduating from Harvard and can’t find a job.<br>
No matter what college you are coming from, graduate school will look at your writing sample and your research interests. Contrary to the popular believes, GPA and GRE are used by graduate schools as a filter instead of sole determinant. Once you reach a certain GPA or GRE numbers, the admission committee ceases to care. Further, graduate schools don’t care about your ECs, unless they are directly relevant to your subject of study.
Since you and I have similar research interest, I would suggest you to NOT study in China except for probably bettering your language skills. I’ve lived in that country and knew plenty of Chinese intellectuals long enough to know how stifling and unproductive that environment is. Graduate school in China is more or less a joke, and prestigious political science programs in China are nonexistent.
Sorry for the Chinese, but the best Chinese department in the entire planet is at Harvard, not Beijing. Sad, really. </p>

<p>On another hand, if you want to go do International Relations and policies, Johns Hopkins SAIS literally dominates the market of China experts. But that requires you to work several years and strong quantitative skills. </p>

<p>Have you considered working for intelligence agencies?</p>

9

<p>I think this thread would be helpful: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/348756-graduate-school-admissions-101-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/348756-graduate-school-admissions-101-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>You’ll need good grades and a high score on your GRE. It would also be good if you could get some experiences under your belt that are either related to your graduate study or at least ot the field you want to work in. So if you have the opportunity to travel to China, or do internships with companies that do business in China, or study in China, you should jump on those. Also, you should probably wait a few years before applying and try to rack up some good job experience at an interesting company or a government job dealing with China (intelligence agencies are a good place to look if you speak Chines fluently, as are defense agencies and contractors. or for something more civilian, look for civil service jobs in East Asia bureaus at State or AID, or positions at private companies. Most grad school programs prefer that you have professional experience to bring to the table, and having htat makes you a much more competitive candidate.</p>

11

<p>It doesn’t matter where you start…as long as you keep good grades you should be fine.</p>

12

<p>Toward… that is really good. I’m sorry if I came off as harsh, I didn’t mean to. I just want to make sure you know that there are a lot of paths to the same place and you don’t need to be set on the Ivy League to get there, and often there is a better option than the Ivy League if you research hard enough. For instance, there are a fair number of well respected programs in the DC area, which is very convenient for acquiring graduate internships and such during the semesters.</p>

<p>Coming from Ole Miss, you will need to be towards the top of your class, with test scores that match the rest of the admitted students for your program of choice. You will need glowing recommendations. Basically, you need the same thing that you would need if you went to Harvard for undergrad. You will not be at a disadvantage. SmithieandProud gave some really good advice. I agree with everything s/he said. I agree with a lot of what pharmakeus01 said also… I do strongly recommend studying abroad in China if that is what you are interested in though (not getting your degree in China though, which I don’t think you were planning on doing).</p>

13

<p>Toward, my recommendation to you is to take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Everything will be fine. I say this because my daughters were in your position last year…literally. They are now freshman at Ole Miss. One is in the excact programs you refer to (Croft and The Chinese Flagship). Same worries last year. Fast forward…they really love it and have already experienced some amazing opportunities…with many more on the horizon. I think they are already realizing that finding opportunities after their undergrad won’t be the problem…choosing will.</p>

14

<p>Thank you all for taking the time to post. It’s all really great advice! I guess the best way to do this is to reply to each of you individually…</p>

<p>pharmakeus,
You say you have a similar research interest? I’m curious now.
I’ll definitely look into Johns Hopkins. And yeah, I have considered intelligence, but from what I’ve heard that’s a lot of hassle… I guess we’ll see though. I’m open to the possibility.</p>

<p>aussiek,
Thanks so much! That’s probably the most helpful thing I’ve read so far… Especially the part about not worrying about grad school during freshman year. I laughed :)</p>

<p>SmithieandProud,
Also great advice. I’m sure I’ll refer back to your post for ideas once I start looking for jobs! Going to work before grad school is appealing to me. I’ve also considered teaching English in China for a bit, as that seems to be a relatively easy thing to get into (from what I’ve heard).</p>

<p>soccerguy,
Don’t worry about it. I’m getting that from a number of people, and I’m definitely more open to other places now.
I’m looking forward to working with the professors at Ole Miss. One of them in particular seemed to take to me nicely in my interview. I don’t think recommendations will be a problem. As for class rank, surely I can be somewhere near the top… I’m prepared to work to get there.
I do plan to study abroad for two summers plus one full year (all part of this intensive Chinese program). I’m really looking forward to that.</p>

<p>seekingknowledge,
Small world! I’m glad your daughters are doing well at Ole Miss. That’s encouraging to hear, especially about the opportunities. I didn’t mean to imply anything against the University—on the contrary, I’ve been very impressed with SMBHC, Croft, Chinese, all of it. The capstone year in particular sounds very promising in terms of experience and career possibilities.</p>

<p>I really appreciate all of the input. It’s helped a lot already. Most of my questions are answered… if I were going to ask one more thing, it’d be this:</p>

<p>Going into high school, college was not on the radar at all, except perhaps as a monster in the distant future motivating me to keep up the grades. There are a lot of things I would do differently about my HS career if I could, such as choosing a more rigorous course load at the beginning and getting involved with more EC’s sooner. I don’t want the same lack of foresight to be my downfall again—so if there’s anything I should know, tell me now!
The thread that aussiek linked to mentioned at one point not to worry about grad school this early, which sounds like good advice. However, I still want to make sure that I’m doing everything I can from the very beginning.</p>

<p>I’m really happy with this thread, most of my others haven’t been so successful… usually I have to struggle to keep them alive long enough to get a straight answer. Thanks again!</p>

15

<p>I didn’t take your post in a negative way. I understand your position and your worries. Again, my daughters were having those feelings too.</p>

<p>Get ready Toward. So many exciting opportunities ahead of you! There are so many activities to get involved in at Ole Miss. If I could give a bit of advice…don’t jump too fast. Take the time to decide if it is something you really have a passion for. Activity for activities sake is…well…just activity. Talk to the upperclassmen. They have been through it before. By the way…there is an intelligence securities minor at Ole Miss (you probably already know about it). You can take the first class to see if it may be for you. Admission is competitive. </p>

<p>The Chinese Language Flagship is possibly the most challenging academic path my daughter has ever taken…yet the most rewarding. Prepare to work hard and be amazed at the progress you make!</p>

<p>Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions. Welcome to Ole Miss.</p>

16

<p>@Toward,
I’m definitely going to graduate school in East Asian Studies or Comparative Literature. I’ve acquainted myself with enough Chinese scholars in the field to understand that schools like Princeton or Yale will probably not be good choices to attend, especially when considering the individual fit of each program. Princeton has a bunch of sinologists, maniac orientalists whom I passionately abhor. In all honesty, I’d rather end up at University of California Irvine than Harvard, because UCI simply has the best literary theory program in the country. In addition, I’ve also worked with intelligence community for some times. I’d say that the requirements ain’t all that high as long as you can get a security clearance. However, once you get into any of these agencies, you will be stuck in the United States for the rest of your life.You will not be able to make ANY foreign friends, and you are required to report every single instance of foreign association to the security officer. If they have reason to suspect that you’ve associated yourself with a foreign national, like calling them on your phone, outside your official duty, then an investigation will be launched immediately to assess the extent of your association with the said foreign nationals. Usually, a person who has clearance will not be able to marry, date, or live with another foreign national. Even if you get stationed in China, you are required to associate and to live only with other citizens. (don’t worry, Americans live in their own dreamland in China anyways, they refuse to speak Chinese, and they don’t assimilate) </p>

<p>Grad school is a big time commitment. Usually, it takes 7-9 years to finish a Ph.D program, after which you will have about 50 percent chance of real employment. Although China expert is much needed in today’s society, our country’s total incompetence in learning about another country means that there will be not a lot of job opening for people who can speak Chinese.
Some 300 million Chinese try to speak English and learn about American culture, tens of thousands of students travel from China to America to assimilate and to learn about the American way of life, whereas a tiny portion of Americans speak a language other than English. No wonder why Chinese intelligence is so effective, and our government literally fails in the last 30 years to predict the direction of China’s public policies.</p>

17

<ol>
<li><p>I would live in the first professor’s office that I had a rapport with. I’m not kidding. If you want to know about grad school, talk to a professor. These are also the people you will be doing research with and getting recommendations from. To get into grad school, you want to get to know the people in your department.</p></li>
<li><p>The number one thing that will get you into grad school is research. Grades matter, GRE’s matter, but I think research matters even more than that. Every single person that I’ve talked to who wishes to go to grad school does research. Getting into grad school without research in most fields is ridiculously difficult, and getting published in any academic journal is pretty much an auto-invite into grad school. So yeah, research. (Then again, I am talking about science phd’s, so it might be different for social science). Again, ask professors.</p></li>
</ol>