<p>What would the perfect candidate look like for this sort of thing? Vivid pictures appreciated.</p>
<p>Specifically Princeton, Yale, and UPenn.</p>
<p>My specific interest is geoscience (geology). Any advice on things I should do in advance like taking summer classes at the school, doing research there, etc?</p>
<p>How far are you along in your schooling? It seems like you are approaching graduate school with the same perspective as undergrad applications, like showing specific interest in that institution and being very focused on the Ivy League part of it.
It also matters whether you are looking at a master’s or PhD program in terms of what they look for, and the field. For some fields, these schools you mention would be poor choices for the field. (I don’t know the geoscience/geology field to know how these stack up in that department.) What graduate schools (particularly for PhDs) look for is fit: do your research interests match what the university focuses on? It’s also important to have a really strong research background, but it trying to do things specifically at that institution is not necessarily going to help you. It can be useful to have connections, but this usually occurs, for example, by working with a researcher who knows someone there and will vouch for you. That will probably be more powerful than having taken a summer program there (with REUs being a possible exception). The further you go, the more important recommendations are over interest.</p>
<p>First of all, there are other “prestigious” and not so prestigious Universities that have FAR stronger Graduate Geology / Geosciences programs than the 3 you mentioned. </p>
<p>CalTech, MIT, Stanford, UCB, Columbia, University of Washington, University of Colorado, UTA, are but a few worth mentioning. </p>
<p>Second of all, what you need to do to have a chance to get into ANY top Geology program is have great GRE’s, great grades in your UG Geology/ Physics major or majors, and do as much research with professors at your college as possible.
Applying to PhD programs is very different than applying to UG. It is much more like applying for a job. LOR’s from UG professors who are known in the academic world can be an important deciding factor in acceptances. You will be doing lots of research for your PhD advisor .They want graduate students that have a proven research tract record . </p>
<p>Like the others have said, “Ivy” doesn’t mean much, especially for graduate programs. “Ivy League” literally means they are part of a particular sports conference. That’s it. It’s not something special. This is especially true for graduate programs. Things that you need to be concerned about are the strength of a particular (graduate) program or department, the specific research being conducted by faculty and how well that meshes with your own interests and/or the areas of focus for that particular program, and whether or not the program is a good fit for you.</p>
<p>In addition to what the above have said - which is spot-on - I sometimes feel like college students (and often very <em>early</em> college students on CC, and often high school seniors who haven’t even graduated yet!) have their heart set on a particular graduate school because they think they can recapture the undergraduate experience at one of these places, or glom on to some perceived “glory” in attending one of these places. You won’t. I attend an Ivy League for my PhD and it’s not the same as attending undergrad here. Not that it’s not excellent in its own way - in some ways I think it’s much better than being an undergrad there - but you won’t get the undergrad experience here.</p>
<p>Yale and Princeton actually have decent earth sciences program (top 10 and top 20 respectively) but Penn’s earth sciences program is mid-ranked. Not to mention that you select a program based upon research fit, not just the name brand. Your best research fit may be at Penn State, Arizona or CU-Boulder - all of which are top programs in this area.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in volcanism, then Hawaii-Manoa should be considered…</p>
<p>It also depends on what your post graduate goals are. If you want to work in the extraction industry a masters degree from a decent school in or around an oil producing region will be more than sufficient (even better if it has a highly recruited PetE/ Mining E/ Geologic E program). If it’s to work in academia the departmental sub rankings, facilities, and current faculty members become far more important. </p>
<p>This deserves its own thread, but how does one establish an excellent track record of research up to ivy league standards? </p>
<p>How can a student who doesn’t go to let’s say Yale get a research position with a researcher there? I’m all for opportunities to visit the college, in say an REU or something!</p>
<p>How can students build relationships that result in vouching for the student to pursue a PhD at an ivy league like Yale? </p>
<p>Did you read any of the replies to this thread?</p>
<p>@juillet is right on the money.</p>
<p>I will note that, technically speaking, it is really easy to get into an Ivy League grad program.
Case in point: Harvard Extension School… if you wanted to get a Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies.</p>
<p>That being said… if you want something a bit more prestigious, I would suggest that you have a 3.5 GPA and a couple of years of research experience, depending on school, field of study, etc.</p>
<p>There isn’t any such thing as “Ivy League standards.” As has already been pointed out to you on this thread, the Ivy League is simply an athletic conference and it means even less in grad school than it does for undergrad. Some of the very best programs in your field are actually at public institutions, and several are at non-Ivy privates. I also wonder whether or not you actually read any of the replies to you.</p>
<p>You get an excellent track record of doing research by doing research. Seek out professors at your undergrad who are doing interesting research and ask if you can assist them. They don’t have to be famous or well-known. I went to a small, mid-ranked liberal arts college and did research with a not-famous professor, and I’m currently at an Ivy League PhD program (although I chose it because it’s top 5 in my field, not because it’s “Ivy”). You don’t need to do research with someone from Yale or Princeton to go there for grad school.</p>
<p>An REU is a great idea, but again, it doesn’t need to be at an Ivy. While trying to do an REU at a school you are interested in attending for graduate school is a really good idea, you needn’t have done any research at your target school to get accepted. I’d never even been on Columbia’s campus before I got accepted here.</p>
<p>Applying for a top grad school is like applying for any grad school. You don’t need someone to “vouch” for you like a sponsor, aside from letters of recommendation…who just need to be from professors who know you well and can speak to your ability to succeed in grad school. My letters were all from unconnected professors, but they were all people who knew me well and knew that I would be successful as a graduate student. None of them had gone to an Ivy League school for grad school.</p>