<p>does taking graduate courses and getting an A in them help you get into top universities? Do most students take them in there undergrad? I heard from someone that some grad schools won't accept the credit.</p>
<p>It’s true that grad schools will usually not accept the credit. (Usually because those credits are counted towards your undergrad degree.)</p>
<p>Some students take grad classes as undergrads. I did. So did my husband. So my oldest daughter. It’s not that big of a deal. It does help demonstrate the rigor of your undergrad preparation, but it’s not a deal breaker for grad school if you don’t.</p>
<p>Graduate school (PhD programs at least) is not about collecting credits the way that college is. Your graduate program will make an effort to place you appropriately (i.e. you probably won’t be forced to repeat courses you have already taken) but your undergraduate courses won’t appear on your graduate transcript. </p>
<p>The academic background expected of applicants seems to vary by discipline. For example, the top math PhD programs are quite explicit that they expect applicants to have a solid graduate background already. The tippy-top programs are even set up assuming that applicants have a solid enough foundation to plunge right into research and only need topics courses on currently active areas of research. I had to turn down admission offers from Princeton and MIT because I (and my undergraduate advisers and even the potential graduate advisers who admitted me!) felt that my 8 graduate courses did not give me an adequate foundation to benefit from the structure of their graduate programs. And yes, these programs are set up for students straight out of college, not applicants with a Master’s degree.</p>
<p>While I don’t doubt what Barium says is true for his/her experience and field, that would be a somewhat extreme end of the spectrum. Many people will not have the opportunity to take grad courses as an undergrad (say for instance there isn’t a graduate program at your UG institution for your major!). Generally, motivated students will dip their toes in a couple of classes if they can but I think it’s really something that helps to have but doesn’t hurt much not to. Obviously, your field will have its own peculiarities so check with prospective schools.</p>
<p>I agree with paradx - most graduate programs in my field expect little or no graduate coursework in your field upon entering with a bachelors degree. This gets a little iffy when you consider that many senior-level electives are also basic-level grad courses at many schools, but true grad-level courses in my field rarely have more than one or two undergrad students, and many of the senior-level electives I have taken have been dominated by (or exclusively) grad students.</p>
<p>That having been said, very few programs will allow courses counted towards the completion of one degree to be used towards the completion of another, and most of those are joint programs where that is explicitly noted at the start. Even if you take the grad courses after graduation, most grad programs will be reluctant to count them towards the degree. Many PhD programs will not even count an external masters degree towards the doctoral requirements, even when they WOULD count their own masters degree!</p>
<p>May I ask what graduate courses you took, b@rium!, and also what courses you would have needed to have a strong enough foundation?</p>
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<p>This is actually the reason I chose to graduate early instead of trying to cram in a BS/MS in four years. One of the guys I work with got a MS at a school different from his BS, then came here for his PhD. They didn’t give him credit for his MS, though they did change some of the requirements letting him get out of a few “required” classes and instead replacing them with other classes of his choice.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, I had no intention to say that what happens in math is the norm. My point was that it’s impossible to answer the OP’s questions in a meaningful way without reference to a specific field. Graduate education and admission practices vary too much between fields and even programs within a field.</p>
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<p>Some do, but more don’t, for a variety reasons, including that many undergrads attend LACs that do not have any nearby universities where students can cross-register for grad courses.</p>