<p>My dream is to go to Columbia University for grad school. Now that I just got accepted to a college, I always regret for not doing so many things I should have done in HS that would help me for college admission. I don't want to make the same mistake again. So, I'm here to ask CCers for help how I should prepare during undergrad school that could help me or increase my chance of going to such grad school as Columbia University. What do grad school look at (other than those test scores)? I only know that undergrad schools look at such things as ECs, GPA, Leadership, but do grad schools look at different things?</p>
<p>Thank you for all responses.</p>
<p>Grad school is totally different from Undergrad. First of all, it depends on what program you are applying, your academic concentration, and your prospective mentor. If it is Ph.D program you are talking about, then they don’t care about your EC, leadership positions, all they care about is your academics, not GPA, your writing sample or your lab experience, and lastly, your fit with a potential advisor.
Second, if it is a MA program you are interested to matriculate, Columbia has a lot of options to offer. Typically, unfunded MA programs are all pretty easy to get in as long as you have decent GPAs, 3.2+, decent GRE, 1200+, adequate work experience and tons of money.
Don’t go to Columbia for graduate school just because you want to get into Columbia. When it comes to graduate school, ivy brand doesn’t really that much. Remember that the best International Relation programs are schools such as Johns Hopkins and American University; whereas best English programs, with a few exceptions, are all outside ivy leagues.</p>
<p>What ^ the above said. I go to Columbia for graduate school, but only because it’s the top in my particular area. First of all, you may not go to graduate school at all - it just may not be necessary for your career choice. Second of all, in your particular field another school may be better and more cost-effective for you to attend if you do decide graduate school is for you.</p>
<p>Graduate schools generally could care less about your extra-curriculars unless they’re directly related to the field, like if you were a research assistant and are going to a research-oriented grad program, or volunteered at a children’s shelter and are applying for a counseling program or something. Leadership positions on campus matter for business programs and sometimes law programs. Really what matters (in PhD and academic MA program admissions) are your GPA (cum and in major), your GRE scores, the statement of purpose that you write for the program, your letters of recommendation from professors who know you, and any related experience you have (either working or volunteering in college or after).</p>
<p>Just get good grades, do the activities you want to do (but not so many that you can’t concentrate on your school work) and take advantage of opportunities as they come up. If you see an interesting internship, do that. If the opportunity comes up to do research with a professor in your department, apply for it. If you want to study abroad, do that. Your interests will generally begin to lead you in the direction that you need to go - if you love being a research assistant then you can seek out more of those experiences; if you enjoy doing internships at investment banks you can seek that out. And so forth.</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses, pharmakeus01 & juillet.</p>
<p>For now, I still have no idea what I want to major in grad school (which I mean, for Master Degree). My major in undergrad is psychology but I’m not certain I will still choose psychology for my Master.</p>
<p>One thing I would like to point out is that I aim for Columbia because if I have a chance for Columbia, I believe it would open my door to many other good universities. Columia is a top of my list but I’m still open for many great universities I will find in the future.</p>
<p>Now, there is one thing I wonder. pharmakeus01 states that when it comes to grad school, ivy or non-ivy don’t matter. However, in the undergrad (college admission) forum, people always say that it doesn’t matter where you go as undergrad so save your money, go to good cheaper school for undergrad, and go to prestigious grad school (I mean, top schools). Which is actually correct?</p>
<p>Ivies aren’t always the top schools in every field. You generally go to grad school with the intent of attending the best place within your subfield, since that’s all you’re planning on doing. For example, I’m doing Materials Science & Engineering and there are many schools I’d be better off at than most of the ivies (as evidenced by me turning one down when I finally chose my grad school).</p>
<p>When they say that Ivy doesn’t matter for graduate school, they are saying that because the top programs in specific fields are not necessarily at Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>You are thinking about graduate school way too early… I hope when you do decide what you want to get your Master’s in that you choose because of the prestige of the particular program, not the school itself.</p>