I am a senior in high school and my goal is to eventually get my masters. I got into Cornell school of engineering and a few state schools. I was wondering if it would be better to go to Cornell or a state school where I might get a slightly better gpa. What would be more impressive to a graduate admissions committee? I would like to go to an ivy or other top school for graduate as well.
What will be impressive to grad school adcoms is what you do as an undergrad, especially in research. Also cost should be a factor. Unsubsidized undergrad loans will be accruing interest wile in grad school.
What “state schools” admitted you? Is it Purdue or East Podunk State College?
No its UCSB UCI and UCSC and UCD
All of those schools will compete favorably for grad school.
For engineering, some of the schools that are widely seen as the “best schools” are state schools.
^True! I wish more students understood that. For example, UT-Austin’s rankings:
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM RANKINGS
11 Overall
1 Petroleum Engineering
3 Chemical Engineering
4 Civil Engineering
7 Computer Engineering
7 Environmental Engineering
8 Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering
9 Electrical/Electronic Engineering
9 Mechanical Engineering
14 Biomedical Engineering
I think it works both ways. I went to an ok undergrad school and a HYPS for grad school – while I did a lot of research and had my name on a few papers/presentations prior to applying, I think it was more the fact that I’d done that from a program where it was unusual that caught their eye. I wouldn’t make your decision now based on grad school, but the factors which make this the right choice/fit for now.
If you read the book Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be, it is very clear that you don’t have to go to an Ivy to go far in life.
How have you already gotten admissions decisions from UCSB, UCI, UCSC and UCD?
I don’t know anyone who has gotten one from a single one of these schools.
This sounds like a hard question to answer with statistical certainty, but with enough digging an answer may appear.