Graduate School: Does undergrad name matter?

<p>Obviously Harvard looks better than the University of North Dakota(no offense), but do graduate schools look at numbers and activities more than the name of your school?</p>

<p>I wonder because things kids do when they are 14 and 15 should not dictate where they can take themselves later in life. I am completely oblivious to this issue, but I hope choosing between slightly more prestigious(but expensive, and afterall private schools) make a huge difference over respected public and private universities.</p>

<p>are you asking if when you apply to a graduate school, does the undergraduate school you are applying from affect how you are rated and admitted from the graduate school? if so, it does matter a lot. Great numbers in one college may be seen differently than the same great numbers in a better school.</p>

<p>The numbers and activites will most likely matter more than the school when comparing two well-respected schools. But yes, attending the University of Nowhere That Nobody Has Ever Heard Of compared to Harvard of course will make a difference.</p>

<p>Ok but what about middle of the road schools?</p>

<p>If you have good numbers at like a UWisconsin, Lehigh, UMaryland, Villanova?
You know something in that range, known and respected, but not on your top 25 lists.</p>

<p>With good numbers and activities from those schools, you wont be in a huge disadvantage going to graduate schools?</p>

<p>I'm going to Cambridge University in England for my masters in the fall and though my school name was a disadvantage, my ability to make a name for myself here was a much bigger advantage.</p>

<p>It plays a part. But really, colleges will look at your grades, scores, recs, and internships, and weigh that more than name.</p>

<p>However on CC, if you're not at HYPS, you're ass is going to be serving Burgers.</p>

<p>i got my masters degree at an Ivy League school, and the people in my program had an extremely wide range of backgrounds, from 'no name' 4th tier state schools to 'top 10' schools.
i have a friend who got her masters degree at another Ivy, and she did her undergrad at a school not listed in the usnew top 100 list</p>

<p>I am finishing up my undergrad at a state school and applying to a design field with no art background. My stats are not fantastic, 3.5 GPA and I DID NOT take the GREs but I still got accepted to all five graduate programs I applied to, including one Ivy League. Hell I even got into programs that listed the GREs as a requirement, but I sent my application in anyway and got in. </p>

<p>Undergraduate name does not matter, where there is a will there is a way. Plus, the top programs are trying to build a well rounded class, they are not going to accept students from only the top schools, they want as many different perspectives as possible (if they are smart)</p>