<p>Over the years, I've seen a lot of posters say something like, "After all, [kid] can always go to [big name school/Ivy League university/expensive school/specific university] for grad school." As someone with a masters degree and a current PhD student, this makes me cringe for a number of reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In your kid's eventual field, grad school may not be a good idea--heck, it may not even exist.</p></li>
<li><p>Grad school is NOT a natural extension of undergrad--and if your kid treats at that way, they are likely to get a degree they don't know what to do with, often at a high price. Grad school is something a student should decide on with a specific career goal in mind, having researched the pros and cons of said path to the best of their ability and with a clear idea of how the specific grade degree they're after will help them achieve that goal. "I majored in English and have no idea what to do" is not a good reason to get a masters in English lit.</p></li>
<li><p>Grad student life is generally much different from undergrad life. Although grad students can and do attend football games and the like, it's generally a much different, much more focused experience where you may only visit a handful of buildings on campus, ever.</p></li>
<li><p>What's high-ranking in undergrad may not be high-ranking in your kid's field. In many fields, state universities may be the top-ranked schools. In my primary field, there are actually no programs at Ivies, for example.</p></li>
<li><p>Often, grad school is about applying to specific faculty who research specific things, NOT about the overall university. I chose my grad application list based on funding and the availability of faculty who did research in my area. The latter is not typically an undergrad concern.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, yeah, the idea that your kid can just use grad school as undergrad round 2 is really shortsighted.</p>
<p>It works around here. In fact, a lot of kids who went to the ivy league or other highly selective schools are getting grad school degrees from state annex schools, because their parents are not going to pay for those degrees at private schools after buying undergrad. Unless they get a stipend, from the school, it’s state u and most useful degrees don’t offer stipends, they are full pay. But, yes, I know a lot of kids going to highly selective schools for grad school, that went to state Us or other schools for undergrad. DOesn’t always work that way, but for more likely than getting accepted right from high school.</p>
Basically, when a kid is worried they won’t get into an Ivy (or a really highly ranked school) that they want to go to, people say, “don’t worry, you can always go to school X for grad school” to make the applicant feel better.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the problem. Some students actually DO go to “higher ranked” schools for grad or professional schools. I don’t think anyone is being demeaning in any way.</p>
<p>I have actually offered this advice to international students…the reality is two years of grad school is two years less expensive than undergrad.</p>
<p>Many grad school programs are at least as highly competitive as undergrad. Your competition for admission consists entirely of other students who have already succeeded in college, which makes it that much harder to distinguish yourself. Someone who was 90th percentile on the SAT may easily end up on the 50th percentile on the GRE. Right now I’m a lot more concerned about my daughter’s chances of admission to grad school in her chosen field than I was about her admission to undergrad. She MUST earn a MS from an accredited program in her field in order to be allowed to sit for the licensing exam.</p>
<p>The saying is dumb because it is not true. A student who is rejected from say, Stanford undergrad cannot, “always go to Stanford for grad school.” Yes, it is possible that he might go there for grad school, but the chances that he actually will want to and can get in, are so small that it is dumb to make it sound like a sure thing. You could say, “you might be able to apply there again for grad school,” and that would be fine, but people don’t say that. They say, “you can always go for grad school,” and that is not true.</p>
<p>And I didn’t necessarily mean any ONE particular school. But for the student who wants to attend ANY elite school, if he excels in undergrad, he will have a good chance to attend A top grad school…not just any particular one.</p>
<p>I think many of you are missing the point–what students look for in a grad school and what grad school demands of a student are very, very different from undergrad. Also, in many fields, what constitutes a “high-ranked” school in grad school is very, very different than in undergrad in many fields. I’ve many CC posters and parents treat grad school as undergrad 2.0, and having been in grad school, that makes me cringe, honestly.</p>
<p>Someone said it to my D2 about a top university she decided not to attend last year. She knows perfectly well that (1) she may not be accepted there for grad school, so undergrad may have been her one shot at that school, and (2) her grad school interests may not match up with the research being done at that institution anyway. But she knew that for undergrad, she would be happier at a different school (which is proving to be true this fall, she is thrilled with her choice). But just saying that this comment doesn’t just happen when a kid doesn’t get in or can’t afford it…</p>
<p>There are lots of late bloomers who didn’t have their act together by freshman year of high school; these kids may have raw talent, but will almost never make the cut for Ivy League admission. So we should instead tell these kids, “Tough luck, your life is over?” The opportunity to do something is not the same as the likelihood of it actually happening.</p>
<p>As a master’s student, I don’t really see the problem with it.
I also think it’s to comfort a student- especially when a kid is really, really “in love” with a particular school. Saying that it’s a possibility for grad school is comforting. Honestly, after the 1st semester, most students will have forgotten about their “dream” schools. If they haven’t, then by the time they are looking at grad schools they will almost certainly be looking at the program and not the school. </p>