<p>...compared to getting into Harvard/Hopkins/UCSF medical school, compared to getting into Harvard/Yale/Stanford law school, and compared to getting into any top graduate school (ie: MIT's econ department takes like 40 out of 800 applicants, and you can bet the applicant pool is astonishing. Same goes for Harvard/UChic).</p>
<p>As a sophomore at one of the colleges mentioned in the title, I feel like getting into here was a joke compared to the level of difficulty of getting into a top professional school. The acceptance rate at any top law school/med school is significantly lower and the applicant pool is much stronger than those of any undergrad of the country.</p>
<p>So while you might think getting into HYP is the pinnacle of success right now, just remember that this is the easy part. :P</p>
<p>Right, which is why I laugh when I see someone on CC say turn down that HYPS college acceptance and go to your local college or that little LAC you like for undergrad; you can always go to Harvard for grad school. “Always”? - Yeah, right. Like an acceptance into a Harvard grad or professional school is just going to automatically fall into your lap.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Which is why those schools are so popular and is also one reason why sometimes it really does matter where you went to college. The CC mantra is that which college you attend doesn’t matter at all - that a degree from Ordinary State U. can take you just as far as one from HYPS. Which is true in theory, but your odds of getting there are not the same.</p>
<p>This is true, which is why you should take advantage of how easy it is to get into HYP so you can maximize your shot at getting into a top professional school. Graduate school (PhD programs), though, care a bit less about which undergrad you went to.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with the OP, except for medical school. Law school and PhD admissions are much more straightforward. Law school admissions is highly dependent on standardized scores and GPA, much moreso than undergrad admissions. PhD programs are not that tough to get into either, but are much more straightforward. If you have a high GPA, high GRE, and publish in undergrad (esp. from a good school), you’re pretty much automatic everywhere. Just my experience with it. The percentages might still be low, but it’s apples and oranges between grad school and undergrad admissions.</p>
<p>For the Harvard Medical School Class of 2008, there were 5,138 completed applications, 800-1000 applicants were interviewed, and there are 165 enrolled as first-years.</p>
<p>If you use the enrolled number of students, (I do not see number of accepted on the HMS site), that equals a 3.2% rate. Ouch.</p>