<p>How much does an undergraduate school's name recognition/prestige/ranking have on your chances of being accepted into a prestigious graduate school? </p>
<p>I'm from Florida, and I'm currently choosing between University of Central Florida and University of Florida. </p>
<p>University of Florida has that name recognition and prestige(nationally ranked), but I like UCF better(not ranked; third tier school). I am uncertain what major I will choose as of right now, but I want to have the chance to be accepted to a prestigious graduate school like Columbia or New York University if I apply. </p>
<p>I've heard of both sides. Some people say your undergraduate school's prestige carries on with you, some people say it's not where you go, it's how hard you work there. </p>
<p>I'm applying to UCF's Honors College too, so if I get in, that will be a factor.</p>
<p>It’s not how hard you work, it’s the grades you get (nobody cares that you tried hard). In my experience, your gpa and your GRE/LSAT/MCAT are the things they look at most. The quality of the college is considered, but if you have mediocre test scores, the fact that you went to a little bit better undergrad school isn’t going to help much at a top grad school.</p>
<p>Do you mean professional school (med, law, mba)? Or Masters/PhD research graduate school?</p>
<p>At the MBA level, I see tons of strong applicants get into top b-schools after attending regular old state. From what I’ve learned (secondhand only, others would know more) is its GPA and MCAT over school. </p>
<p>For PhD programs, going to a highly regarded school in one’s specific field helps a lot- especially if you can do research with and get letters of rec by well known people in that field. A school with a high USNWR rank does not necessarily make it well regarded in a particular field and vice versa.</p>
<p>If you like UCF better, then you should go there. If you go to Florida and hate it, you’re not going to do as well as you would have going to UCF Honors and loving it.</p>