<p>well then your counselors are not counselors at all</p>
<p>From what I've seen and heard, in the end, when push comes to shove, employers don't care where you went as long as you get the job done.</p>
<p>Prestige obviously has high monetary costs, even if it does help you get in the door at times (and not all employers are equally as impressed by the supposed prestige of a school). </p>
<p>Also depends on what your definition of a "Podunks" college is.</p>
<p>While med school admissions is largely dependent on the efforts of the individual, top schools do give you an edge (either directly or indirectly). For example, in the 150 student Class of 2011 at Columbia medical school, there are over 90 students who did their undergrads at Ivy League colleges. Throw in the other top colleges (Stanford, WashU, Duke, etc.) and you're looking at over 70% of the class coming from Top 20 undergrads. Those of you who have actually interviewed at top med schools know that the vast majority (at least 2/3) of the people they interview come from the top 20 colleges in the country. The other 1/3 come from the LAC's and the thousands of other colleges.</p>
<p>Now, I'm not saying that your school's name is more important than GPA or MCAT scores. But, with medical school acceptance rates at 5%, you pretty much need a great GPA, MCAT score, and have gone to a prestigious college to get into top med schools. If you're amazing enough (for example, if you have 3 publications or if you're a Rhodes Scholar), no med school will deny you. But, you will realize that many of the adcom members at top med schools are very old school and thus favor grads from prestigious colleges.</p>
<p>I used to believe the old adage that your undergrad doesn't matter but my experiences simply has not proven it true. I'm now hesitant to recite that and hope that those of you who go to lesser known undergrads not despair but rather work harder now that you have something to prove.</p>
<p>
[quote]
From what I've seen and heard, in the end, when push comes to shove, employers don't care where you went as long as you get the job done.
[/quote]
ugh. probably true. there are IGNORANT ppl in my school who think that getting into the best school is EVERYTHING--like they think employers wouldn't even consider you. AND that you cant transfer from an okay school to a great school..........which is totally untrue and is just annoying</p>
<p>It depends on what you do at your state flagship. If you take every difficult course there, have a 4.0, do research, get published, play sports, and at a state school, smart students are more likely to be favored my top professors. If you are one of these students with excellent recs, and high test scores you can study for gre, lsat, mact then you have just a good as chance of any applicant.</p>
<p>Also for med school and law school name doesnt mean anything. Its all about gpa/lsat/mcat/expirience.</p>
<p>As for phD programs gpa doesnt matter as much as expirience in the field. A state schooler with a 3.5 who has done extensive research and has gotten published will more likely to be admitted to top grad schools than an ivy league grad who spent all his time getting a 4.0.</p>
<p>There are cases where prestige matters such as trying to get a job on wall street or other business fields. For example a person with a 4.0 at a school like lets say an average state school is less likely to get an interview at McKinsey or Goldman Sachs than a Columbia student with a 2.8.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>not true at all. i dont know where youre getting that information. do you honestly think youd have as good a shot at harvard law as state u student than as a harvard ug student?</p>
<p>hmm, just get into the Top 20, don't flunk any classes, and that's it?</p>
<p>k... If I go to brown and get Cs and Ds, I'll get into medical school, right?</p>
<p>undergrad prestige helps you get into grad schools, but for doctors at least, where you went to undergrad doesnt matter to internships, its all about graduate school.</p>
<p>There was this UPenn admissions guy who I actually saw twice – I visited UPenn last spring and attended an info session, and he also came to my area and gave a presentation (they also showed that admissions movie – really good, but... it seems more like an ad for college in general, not UPenn: anyone else seen it?). He gave basically the same speech both times, and he was kinda annoying, but he did say something that I think is very true, even though I don't usually think about it:</p>
<p>It doesn't matter where you go to college, it matters what you do once you're there.</p>
<p>That's basically what a lot of people on this thread are saying anyway, but I just thought it was interesting that it came from an Ivy admissions officer. He said he went to Arizona State :-).</p>
<p>"k... If I go to brown and get Cs and Ds, I'll get into medical school, right?"</p>
<p>Nope. The majority of students attending top med schools come from top undergrads. But, the converse is not true. The majority of premeds from top undergrads do not get into top medical schools. In fact, they don't make it to med school at all or even the application stage.</p>
<p>norcalguy post#23 is worth reading and meshes with my observations too.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
It is NOT the same thing for grad school. The student who graduates from Harvard dead last in class rank (in terms of GPA) has a far greater chance of getting into a competitive grad school than someone who was valedictorian of the graduating class of Podunk university.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>I think you've misunderstood graduate school admissions to a degree, especially when it comes to professional programs such as law and medical school. In the bottom percentile of students graduating I know a 2.3 GPA in Asian Studies at Amherst College and a 2.1 in Anthropology at Brown University. I would never make a bold comment such has as saying a summa cum laude from SUNY-Oswego or University of New Haven has a relatively inferior chance at any graduate program. It will depend on their scores and the quality of undergraduate work/projects they have to show before it will ever come down to their alma mater.</p>
<p>It will come down to the student with respect to their institution, who generally at good schools such as Harvard are good students. But if the student blows, guarantee you that A) they will not see more acceptance than better-performing students at less-prestigious schools and B)at many colleges, they will not condone the bottom quartile of students applying to law schools and med schools; do not expect the C student from Harvard College have a law application being process for Yale Law this Winter.</p>
<p>^Right. It's important not to exaggerate such as saying a student with a 2.8 from Harvard has a better chance than someone with 4.0 from a state school.</p>
<p>I can only speak for med school admissions since that's what I have the most experience with (and keep in mind, med school admissions is much more competitive than law school and most other grad school admissions). With most private med schools receiving 6000+ applications for 150 spots, they can literally fill their class 5 times over with students with high GPA's and MCAT scores. For example, Boston University School of Medicine said that this year they had 100 applicants for every spot. When they can only afford to interview 2-3 of those 100 applicants, they have to split hairs. That means considering your undergrad college or your race or your geographic location.</p>
<p>Cre8tive1: OK, so I overstated it a bit :-). All you Harvard students don't slack off too much, or you won't be able to go to Yale law!</p>
<p>I do think though that the OP (read it) was making an erroneous claim that it is better to go to a lesser university and stand out rather than go to a prestigious university and get lost in the crowd.</p>