<p>DD has a lot of options coming at her. First of all, we live in Texas. Second - she's looking at UMinn-TC, UT (only a little) and T A&M. I've reached out to different professors and professionals who I've found to have gone to both schools - yes, I'm a stalker :-). I've asked them about the importance of rankings vs. the strengths of staying in Texas and the alumni networks. I've heard that on undergrad, don't worry about the minute difference - just do the best you can and then shoot for the moon on grad school. What say you?</p>
<p>I’m guessing ChemE?</p>
<p>Yes, I should have clarified that I’m talking about ChemE.</p>
<p>"just do the best you can and then shoot for the moon on grad school. What say you? "
agreed. if you are talking about a PhD program . getting great LOR’s from Profs and doing as much research as possible with profs at whatever college she will be going to are key to getting into top grad school programs.</p>
<p>Is she wanting to work in oil and gas?</p>
<p>She wants to study nanotechnology in grad school. Although I’m guessing that as she gets into the field, that may change. She hasn’t thought about oil/gas. Honestly, I believe she wants to be a professor some day - she’s made comments from time/time about doing that eventually.</p>
<p>From what I have been told by PHDs is to have a great advisor. That’s more relevant for grad school, but having great professors that other professors from the school you are applying for know is almost essential. You will have a better chance of getting into the program if you get a letter of recommendation from a professor that the committee knows and likes.</p>
<p>Read this: <a href=“http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/gradschooltalk.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/gradschooltalk.pdf</a>
It might be for Computer Science, but it is relevant.</p>
<p>I have an update. If her interest is going to be more academic/research based, I’ve been told that going to a more prestigious undergrad program would be best. If she’s interested in business after undergrad, stay in-state and go to UT or T A&M. </p>
<p>Anybody have any input?</p>
<p>I have no idea what Graduate schools look for. I would think gpa and gre scores are weighted pretty heavily. The third thing would be undergrad research, which is tough to get no matter where you are, and probably doubly so at highly competitive schools.</p>
<p>In my opinion, high gpas and high gre scores can be had at any school… obviously. Where can she go that will get her the best work experience? Is the school what will determine it, or can she get that experience in nearby companies that might let her do research or co-op? This question, has less to do with the school and more to do with the programs offered. The school will have a factor, however, that has to do with the competition she will face.</p>
<p>Read the stickies here: [Graduate</a> School - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/]Graduate”>Graduate School - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>It amazes me that high school students think they know what they want to do in grad school. 30-50% of all engineering students change major during undergrad. Many never go to grad school, especially if they are lucky enough to graduate to an up economy. Some who never thought they would bother with grad school end up going when they haven’t found a job by Aug/Sept after graduation. I would recommend picking a school with several options that she likes and really use that first year to explore. Remember there will be somebody in her graduating class who spend their first two years at community college and their dipolams will look exactly the same.</p>
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<p>^^ That needs to be repeated about 1,000 more times on this board.</p>
<p>When I was a high-school senior, I wanted to be some electronics/computer engineer who designed these fancy circuits, etc…basically be Tony Stark/Ironman. Get my masters, PhD and all of that.</p>
<p>Well, after electromagnetic theory and communication systems theory and basically not qualifying for last 2 years of the CompE program…</p>
<p>Here I am, math major (undergrad), systems engineering (grad school) primarily working in databases.</p>
<p>I appreciate the comments. Especially about the importance of the quality of teachers/research available and work experience/co-op.</p>
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<p>Remember that graduate committees are evaluating primarily your ability to do independent research when they admit students. A PhD is after all a research based degree. GPA is significant because it offers a standardized form of academic interest, but the GRE is less important once you’re past a certain score (~780Q on the old system), which many of the top applicants have. Therefore your research interests and experience have a greater impact because of how they affect your LoRs and how you might fit the needs of the department you’re applying to.</p>
<p>In terms of just being able to do research, you’ll be able to do that at every school. Professors are hired primarily to do research, and they will inevitably need some assistants, which may lead to a more independent role in their lab. It’s actually less competitive at prestigious schools, however. The lower student to faculty ratio at private universities (ie 3 to 1 at CalTech) or the sheer quantity of research at public institutions (UIUC, GaTech) means there will be more opportunities, even if the students are more competitive. </p>
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<p>This depends. If you’re talking about just being a professor in general, no. Whatever you do in graduate school will trump your undergraduate. Many professors don’t even advertise where they got their undergraduate degrees because after 4-5 years working on a PhD and perhaps 3+ more at a post-doc, it doesn’t really matter where you went to undergrad. That being said, a prestigious undergrad might offer more research opportunities and keep you more focused on research (more competitive school, more emphasis on future ambition than you might encounter at a state school). You could try checking some faculty websites to see where professors got their degrees. Only at a top universities did the majority of the faculty attend a prestigious undergraduate/graduate school. There are always some that came from a lesser known school (or an international university, from which it’s even harder to get into top American universities) too, though.</p>
<p>I was speaking to a USC researcher and he noted that in Academia, school prestige is very important–and in industry it is not. Take that for what you will.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the info DivZero I think nailed it from what I’ve heard.</p>