Is my school good enough to get me accepted into a graduate Neuro engineering program?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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My heart is set on graduating with a Phd or masters that will allow me to do research in neuro engineering. I am very passionate about all things STEM, and decided neuro engineering is my perfect combination of IT, chem, bio and psychology. I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed because I do not have any family/acquaintances with a graduate degree and its making me wonder if I am graduate degree “material”.

I am currently attending a local community college, in a semester I will transfer to a university that is no where near the same recognition as Duke, Berkeley, Stanford, Denver, etc etc. Its just an average liberal arts university. I chose the university because it is cheaper for me to live at home while I study (biking distance, which is AWESOME). I have fairly good grades, it fluctuates between a 3.4-3.8, and I have average test scores (1650 on SAT).

Is it realistic for me to go for a Phd? I know that anything is possible, but that is not what I am asking. I want to know the practicality for me to get into a Phd program in STEM. Is it dire that I transfer to a more renowned undergrad school in order for me to succeed? As a person without any connections in the world of graduate programs does it make much sense for me to try for one when getting into research labs and getting a job in the field so heavily depends on connections?

Thanks for the read!

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Your undergraduate institution has a lot less impact on your potential graduate programs than you seem to think. Get good grades and take advantage of the opportunities you have and you should be fine. One thing that will be tough at a small liberal arts school will be getting research experience, which can play a major role in graduate admissions, especially at more selective schools. Absolutely pursue REUs over the summers to try and spend some time at larger programs with research in your area of interest.

Getting into graduate school and a research lab doesn’t really depend all that much on connections like you seem to think. It depends on good grades, experience, and letters of reference (and to a much lesser extent, GRE scores). The research experience is the primary thing you will be lacking at a small school, and I already mentioned that above. Of course, if you have a reference writer who happens to know lab directors at places you want to attend, that certainly helps, but it isn’t necessary.

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Perfect, thank you for the reality check! Now just to look for research lab opportunities…