<p>^Title</p>
<p>Your GPA and GRE along with recs and any real world experiences like research internships will have much more influence on your grad school admissions…</p>
<p>Influences how your GPA is viewed, what kind of research you do, recognition of recommenders. </p>
<p>Professors aren’t really impressed with prestige the way people in the general public sometimes are. They don’t care that you went to Harvard full stop. They care that you, for example, went to Harvard and worked with (and have a recommendation from) Professor X, a famous researcher who works at Harvard; or went to Harvard and studied underwater basketweaving and that department is known for being very strong and turning out good scholars. So in a direct way, your undergrad only matters to the extent that grad professors recognize good programs with good people at them, and know that you get good training. And it is professors’ business to know about good programs, so their knowledge spreads wider than you would expect - most professors are familiar with my small LAC and it’s noted for turning out students well-prepared for graduate programs, but it’s not a school CC recommends on the regular, for example. It may influence how your GPA is viewed but not always in the way that you expect. For example, Ivy League schools are known for grade inflation. However, I think most professors assume their colleagues - within reason - assign the grades that you generally deserve in the class.</p>
<p>The way that it matters the most is indirectly, in your undergrad’s influence on you:</p>
<p>-Whether your peers are also motivated to reach careers that require graduate school, and thus motivate you to think of graduate school as a normative and/or necessary next step.
-Whether there are research opportunities available and professors willing to foster a love for research (for academic programs) or encourage you to go to grad school
-Whether you have the connections - alumni, career services - necessary to get the internships and experience necessary for professional programs
-Whether your university has other resources to make prep for grad school easy, like great libraries (to foster a love and proper view of research).</p>
<p>If you’re asking because you are choosing between undergraduate schools, don’t worry about this. You can get into a good grad school from almost anywhere, so choose the school that’s the best fit for you and think about this again junior year.</p>
<p>If you’re asking because you’re already in college and you’re worried that your school will put you at a disadvantage, don’t worry about that either. Unless your school is a known diploma mill or a for-profit school with bad press, you can get into a good grad school from pretty much anywhere.</p>
<p>Once you’ve chosen an undergraduate institution to attend, there are things you can do regardless of where you’re at to prepare yourself for graduate school. Start early, talk to professors about your goals and they will be able to help you realize them. Chances are, they went to a good graduate school and understand what it takes. </p>
<p>Going to an undergrad school with large research resources is generally a good idea if you’d like to continue to grad school, which is not necessarily a highly prestigious institution – often times these are state flagships. If you do find yourself at a school without many resources readily available, I believe you can still get ahold of what you need if you’re motivated. And you may find yourself alone among friends in terms of your research ambitions. </p>
<p>I guess it’s one of those ‘what you make of it’ deals… </p>