Performance in a University: Good School vs. OK School

Graduate School
1

<p>So I just wanted to get some opinions about something that I've been curious about. Is it better to do great and really stand out in a normal university, or is it better to do mediocre in a more prestigious university, considering that you would want to attend graduate school (ex. Medicine, Law, so on and so forth). For example, being outstanding in a normal public state university (top of class, great GPA, great research opportunities...) versus, as I said before, doing mediocre at maybe not an Ivy League School, but schools ranked, say, between 20 and 40, just as reference points (UCLA, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon...)</p>

2

<p>MD and JD admissions are more about GPA and the specified standardized test (MCAT or LSAT) than the undergraduate you attend (although MD schools tend to look down on community colleges).</p>

<p>PhD programs may be concerned with whether undergraduates in that major at your school become good PhD students. This non-public ranking does not necessarily match up with the usual prestige rankings, and would be specific to each PhD program.</p>

3

<p>Moving to Grad School forum as that is what you asked about, although Med and Law are professional school and each have their own separate forums here on CC.</p>

4

<p>First of all, don’t assume that you would do mediocre at a great university but great at a less-prestigious university.</p>

<p>Second of all, it’s better to get good grades/be outstanding. Law and med school admissions are about test scores and grades, and PhD admissions are about research experiences and GPA. (Quality of your program does factor in, but your personal grades and research experience are so much more important.) So if you think you’ll get more of those at a public university, go there.</p>

5

<p>Disclaimer: about to be first year graduate student, speaking from personal experience and research into the process.</p>

<p>I agree with juillet about research experience and GPA being standout, though GPA is likely used more as a baseline filter rather than a deciding factor. Prestige probably doesn’t matter much. I’m moving from a relatively unknown university (it’s nowhere near the likes of UCLA, Tufts or CMU) to a PhD program that is ranked in the top 10 in its field. For me personally, attending a “less prestigious” university, especially one with a small campus, helped me to stand out and take advantage of opportunities that may have been lost to me otherwise.</p>