<p>I am currently in the process of transferring to The University of Maryland, College Park from Howard University. I dont want to sound arrogant but, Im pretty sure that I have a high probability of getting in, seeing as I have a 4.0 GPA & high SAT scores. Again, Im not trying to sound like a jerk, Im just thinking positively.</p>
<p>Anyways, I've had wetdreams since HS of going to Stanford for Grad School. I really want to get my JD/MBA & Im starting to fear that it would be almost impossible to get in graduating from University of Maryland. Stanford is already one of the toughest schools to gain admittance to, so I fear that even if I graduate from UMD with a 4.0 GPA, it would pale in comparison to let's say, someone who matriculated at Yale, Princeton, MIT, Cal or Harvard.</p>
<p>Advice please???? How hard is it to jump from a public undergrad to a top 5 grad school?????</p>
<p>Just for an example, my girlfriend is graduating UMD and has been accepted for PhD programs at Berkeley, Stanford, and CalTech. UMD is a great springboard to graduate school.</p>
<p>Plenty of people go on to schools like that. Stanford still showed up at our law school fair, after all. Conserversely, I know many people who chose a big sticker undergrad school and now can’t afford to attend the prestigious graduate programs they hoped to (instead having to “settle” for scholarships at lesser known schools).</p>
<p>Law programs admit mostly by a scoring system. See the law board for details. Bottom line is the test score and grades. So for example, if you score well from Podunk U, meaning a less known school than Maryland, then you can get in to a top law school. The issue generally is that kids who get into Ivies score higher on the LSAT so they tend to get in more. That doesn’t exclude others. Nor does it mean the LSAT is a good way to admit.</p>
<p>At Maryland (and any other public school), what you give is what you get. You can go anywhere for grad school if you put in the right amount of effort at UMD but at the same time you won’t be successful at all if you don’t. There are lots of resources and opportunities here; you just have to work for them.</p>