I want a degree in the life sciences (Biology, Microbiology, Genetics, etc), but I don’t know what school to go to. I realize that every school is going to have life science courses and degrees, but does it matter which school I go to? I want to get my Phd someday, so does it only matter if you complete a degree and get good grades, or do I have to go to Berkeley or MIT in order to get into a good graduate program?
It matters, but mostly indirectly, and you certainly don’t have to go to Berkeley or MIT to go to a good graduate program. The short version is yes, it only matters that you completed a degree and got good grades (and good research experience and letters of recommendation).
PhD programs care about the rigor of your undergraduate preparation (and your grades), your research experiences, and your reputation among scholars at their level (which is communicated by recommendation letters). These things are going to be partially determined by what undergrad school you go to. The most direct way that this has an effect is through perceived rigor of undergrad prep. After grad programs have admitted a critical mass of successful students from certain programs, those programs get a reputation at that program for having generally good graduates - and so graduation from that department may signal a confidence that a student who performed well has a good undergrad foundation.
Of course schools like Berkeley and MIT often have departments that do that, but tiny schools that you may never have heard of also do, too - because graduate professors are familiar with them. I went to a small second-tier LAC that’s not often mentioned around CC (on the U.S. News list, it’s ranked around Hendrix, Knox, and New College of Florida), but I have found that professors generally know of the school and have a high opinion of the undergrad reputation there. The other caveat is that the school can work in your favor, but going to a school that’s relatively unknown to the professors in the program (which is going to be difficult, since graduate professors see hundreds of applications a year from all over the place) is not a mark against you.
Here are the indirect ways that it can matter:
-Professors like and trust excellent recommendation letters from people they either know personally OR know of as top scholars in the field. You are probably more likely to have an advisor or instructor like that if you go to a research university and/or top school. (However, it is very, very possible to get glowing and awesome recommendations from people the professors do not know; remember that even for the vast majority of admitted applicants they will not know any of the recommenders.)
-You will need research experience. The top schools usually have the most expensive and cutting-edge research going on, with large teams of researchers, lots of top of the line lab equipment, and in theory lots of productivity in terms of papers and presentations. (HOWEVER, even professors at small liberal arts colleges conduct research - and at this stage you’re not as concerned with being cutting-edge; you just want to learn the basics. You can do that with a moderately active faculty member at a small college or regional public, too. The most important part is their investment in your education and training.)
I went to a top 10 program in my field, and I had colleagues who went to all kinds of undergrad schools - Ivy Leagues, top and mid-tier privates, elite and non-elite publics, small liberal arts colleges, tiny regionals, place I had never even heard of before despite spending a lot of time on CC.
So the tl;dr version is you can go to graduate school from anywhere, but you need to select a school that offers you the opportunities to do the things graduate programs will want from you - namely, 1) take a rigorous foundational course load in your field; 2) get research experience and narrow down your area of interest by assisting a professor in their work, and 3) foster relationships with that professor and others so you can get good letters of recommendation.
@juillet wow, that was very informative and thorough! Thank you very much!