<p>What do graduate schools look for in a college student?
-Research
-GPA
-Experience
-Background
-Test Score
-Extracurricular activities?
Is it true that sports, volunteering, and other extracurricular activities do not count that much in graduate admissions?</p>
<p>Research potential. That means good grades (I guess including GRE in places that consider it) and good recommendations. Research experience never hurts, but I don't think extracurricular activities weigh for much.</p>
<p>The criteria for graduate school admissions vary by field.</p>
<p>For the sciences, I think a general outline like this would be appropriate:
Very Important -- research experience, recommendations, GPA (if from a less well-known school)
Important -- GPA (if from a well-known school), GRE scores, personal statement
Not important -- extracurricular activities</p>
<p>Is a 3.5-3.7 GPA from a small, top-20 Liberal Arts school considered competitve? I'm looking into Biology/Environmetal Science at Stanford, where my pa went.</p>
<p>So a 3.5-3.7 GPA with 2-3 summers of researching air quality and taking census on an endangered plant species at a hut on Mount Washington (=)) , extra-curriculars like a varsity sport, a club sport, a capella, theater, and tutoring middle schoolers, and, let's say, hypothetically, good GREs.</p>
<p>I mean, can ECs show how one is dedicated (sports/ clubs/ groups for four years in a row), pursues their interests?</p>
<p>I mean, I feel I could drop some ECs and bring my grades up maybe 3.7-3.9, but that woud lmake college less enjoyable for me. On the other hand, I am in love with Stanford</p>
<p>Anyhue, is this considered competitive?</p>
<p>I'm not on any admissions committees but I think having research experience definitely makes you competitive, in addition to your strong grades and other scores... just my opinion.</p>
<p>werd,</p>
<p>that is a solid GPA... but it will be important for you to highlight your research experience, write an excellent statement of purpose integrating your past research experience and what you want to do in future research... and get excellent letters of rec from your research advisors... the extracurric stuff is practically meaningless...</p>
<p>hrrmmm... cool; never thought ECs would be so insignificant.</p>
<p>thanks for the info/advice =)</p>
<p>werd...
extracurrics are probably slightly more important for the professional schools (biz, med, law)... but for academic PhD programs, professors barely even notice... all they want to know is whether you will contribute to research...</p>
<p>but that does NOT mean you should give them up... it is YOUR life... live it...
if you don't do the things in life you enjoy, then what is the freakin' point?
And by the way, I think participating in some extracurrics actually helps your productivity in other areas... you need that outlet... if you need to scale back on some
for the sake of improving your prospects, that is fine... but DO NOT give up the activities you love just to kill yourself to get into a particular grad school... you will be miserable!</p>
<p>makes sense; do you know the reason for med/biz/ law schools caring mroe about ECs?</p>
<p>extracurrics are NOT a huge factor in professional schools, but they all want to know if you will be a good "citizen", whatever that means in each field... they want doctors who will show compassion, lawyers & biz-men who can socialize & network... again, NOT a huge factor, they just want to see SOME evidence that you are more than just a collection of scores & numbers...</p>
<p>i definitely think that in border-line cases, unique or interesting extracurrics can tip the balance in your favor, but they will never make up for a weak record, no matter how interesting or amazing those extracurrics are.</p>
<p>I see; that makes a lot of sense.</p>
<p>Cool. Thanks!</p>
<p>Yeah I plan to go to medical school more. Do extracurriculars matter much for med school? So the top three things are MCAT, GPA, and research?</p>