<p>When applying for graduate school, what factor plays out the most? Ugrad GPA or prestige of college? </p>
<p>For example: two students apply for Harvard grad. One went to JHU, and has a lower GPA due to grade deflation. The other went to Emory, and has a much higher GPA because of less severe grade deflation. Who will have a better chance of getting into Harvard grad?</p>
<p>The one with the better recommendations from well respected faculty members, higher GRE, better personal essays, more challenging and pertinent undergraduate coursework etc... It isn't just about GPAs.</p>
<p>of course, but consider that all other aspects of the two applicants were identical... both excellent recommendations, both of same ethnicity, both with same level of excellent ecs, internships, test scores, etc etc etc...</p>
<p>Well then, it would depend on some intangibles. Also, GPA will matter. You cannot have a huge difference in GPA. A 3.5 va 3.7 GPA is fine, but a 3.3 GPA vs a 3.9 GPA probably isn't.</p>
<p>beowulf, </p>
<p>you're example is flawed because emory and jhu are equals in terms of "prestige." the emory kid with a higher gpa will fair better.</p>
<p>now if a person from say hopkins and a person from say...sacred heart university were applying to harvard - and the person from hopkins at a 3.6 and hte person from sacred heart had a 3.7 i think having the hopkins name would help. but even in that case, a student at sacred heart with a 3.9 and a student at hopkins with a 3.4 - all other things being equal - would probably fair better. Many grad schools simply admit based on gpa + respective grad school test score (gre, lsat, mcat)</p>
<p>At least in the sciences, having great research experience far outweighs a having a great GPA -- I got into all of the top five programs in biology with a 3.4 from MIT and awesome research experience (true story!), while even people with 4.0s and poor research experience from other schools were not admitted.</p>
<p>I can only speak from a professional school perspective such as law school, medical and dental school etc. GPA and test scores are paramount! I can't emphasize this enough. Yes, if you have some sterling recommendation from well known people or have some very special experience, this might counter a bit of the GPA.</p>
<p>Mollie, yeah, but you were also a cheerleader. Grad schools have a whole different standard for MIT cheerleaders because they are the ulitmate URMs. </p>
<p>From my experience, the bottom line is that it is unfair, but IN GENERAL with GPAs they don't take the difficulty of the school into account as much as you would think they would. GPAs seem to be seen as an indication of how much of an achiever you are, not necessarily how smart you are. The GRE/LSAT/MCAT seem to be a more common tool in comparing basic intelligence of applicants from different colleges.</p>
<p>Overall, prestige is only going to be a tiebreaker at probably 99% of places...it's what you've done that really matters. And your experiences/involvement and test scores are going to matter more than GPA.</p>