<p>I am a uni student in Australia. I have just finished my undergrad studies and I am now doing my honours year. </p>
<p>I am thinking about doing postgrad study at an Ivy League university in the USA. However, I have been reading a lot on the web about how bloody difficult it is to get into these universities. However, most of the talk about difficulty appears to be only related to undergraduate studies. </p>
<p>Would it still be as hard to get accepted in post-graduate studies?</p>
<p>No. All the noise you hear is mostly about undergraduate admissions. Frankly, grad admissions are not as much rigged as the undergrad. If you are academically qualified, and have Professor's recs, you get into grad program with a fair degree of predictability.</p>
<p>That's just flat out wrong. Many graduate programs, like psychology at Yale, have admit rates under 3%. Graduate programs look a lot at how good a fit you are for the program in terms of your research interests. Many programs won't accept you if you aren't a good fit, even if you did excel academically. </p>
<p>Professional school is entirely different, though.</p>
<p>Yes, it also is hard to get into Ivies for professional school and graduate school.</p>
<p>Yea, but its fewer people, and people are not applying to 10-15 schools a piece cause Grad School apps cost 100-150 dollars. (No "Im applying for fun" schools).</p>
<p>There also are fewer spaces in grad school and professional schools than in undergrad programs.</p>
<p>I was not talking about admit rates. Research interest fit is a must. I am saying that compared to UG admissions you can predict grad admissions more accurately because b.s. factors (legacy, athlete, AA, essays, ECs, fame, wealth, political connection, etc) are not vey important. Academic excellence is a major factor.</p>
<p>I think graduate admissions are much more difficult to predict, particularly because intangibles like research experience and faculty recommendations are so important. I agree that graduate admissions are much more consistent -- a student who gets into one top school in his/her field is more likely to get into several than at the undergrad level -- but I think it's just as difficult to predict who will get the nod and who won't.</p>