<p>Hey, I was wondering how hard it is to get into a top grad school for CS/engineering from Umass. Is the fact that it isn't very highly ranked a huge hinderance? Is it significantly harder to get into schools such as MIT, CMU, GATech for grad if you went to Umass than, say, if you went to a top school like carnegie or cornell?</p>
<p>What kind of GPA/reasearch experience would one need to have to get into a top grad school from Umass?</p>
<p>Hi SpacePope. My experience is from 20 years ago, so take it as a historical perspective. In my engineering major at UMass, Chem E., which at the time, was only a moderately rated program, everyone who wanted to (with great grades) got into the very top grad. schools with full fellowships (at that time Minnesota, Michigan, MIT, Wisconsin). A few eventually landed at the Harvard MBA programs. None had any particular research experience other than some summer internships. The UMass degree was the equivalent to that of any peers I met in grad. school.</p>
<p>UMass computer science is very well regarded nationally. There are certainly benefits that one would derive from going to Cornell or CMU; but in terms of grad school admissions, going to UMass would not hold you back in the least.</p>
<p>Remember that grad school admissions don’t rely on US News to determine the quality of a program. In my opinion and experience, I think the academic community has much more respect for other programs and schools than the general public.</p>
<p>Personally, I am a UMass alum and will be going to grad school for public policy in the fall. I applied to 3 of the top 5 programs and got into them all, and I’m not a genius.</p>