Say someone has grad school as their eventual goal..

Graduate School
1

<p>I know this is probably a little early to narrow down, but I had an interesting idea for motivation. I'm super pumped about my upcoming 4 years in college, and I know I'm going to be able to accomplish some really great things. I've already gotten accepted to OSU's prestigious President's Leadership Class (which 100 of 7500 applicants get accepted to) which is sort of a fast-track to holding student govt offices and getting connections with important people in that part of the state. I also already have 24 credit hours, so I'm pretty sure I will be making excellent grades. I have frats going after me, so I'm pretty sure I'll have Greek letters on my resume' as well. I'm majoring in poly sci, which I'm extremely passionate about, so perhaps I could get a TA further down the line. </p>

<p>If I just stay the track and do everything right, I would hope to get into grad school on a full ride..but I don't think I want to spend more than 4 years in the same cool location. Stillwater, OK..where I will be going to school is kind of difficult to envision..kind of a yuppie oasis college town of 55,000 people (25,000 go to OSU) that revolves around campus spirit. I felt like this would be a good place to get my undergrad, but I think I'm going to want a more serious-minded and urban place for grad school. </p>

<p>I was thinking about schools in big cities surrounded by a lot of culture. And yes, for me location is everything.. Colleges like SMU would be ideal..rich, preppy, white. The only problem with SMU is too close to home, but that might not be a problem for me 4 years from now. If anybody knows a lot about the following schools AND/OR the surrounding environs, that'd be really appreciated.</p>

<p>UMinn (Minneapolis)
Case Western (Cleveland)
JHU (B'more)
G'town (DC)
Notre Dame (South Bend)
Emory (Atlanta)
Tulane (New Orleans)
Rice (Houston)
BC (Boston)
Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh)
UPitt (Pittsburgh)
UMiami (Miami, FL)</p>

<p>I've been to Rice, Tulane, and Georgetown. Did a summer-study thing at Georgetown and loved the beautiful campus, the really cool surrounding neighborhood, and the idyllic Chesapeake Bay feel of the area (kayaking in the Potomac River, people walking big Golden Retrievers, discovering how to play Lacrosse, etc).</p>

<p>Considering my undergrad has yet to begin (despite having 24 credit hours earned) I know it's a bit early. But my idea is that I'll buy some fan stuff of one college and adorn my study area with it so that I can stay focused all the time on my grad school ambitions. I want something that I can get as excited about as getting drunk at a toga party.</p>

<p>P.S. And I'm trying to avoid Ivy League schools as well as schools outside the almighty USNWR's "1st Tier" of top colleges. Since I want to go into academia, it will probably matter dividends where I get my grad school done.</p>

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<p>I’m confused…is that list of schools ones that you would want to go to grad school for? You’re not going to choose your grad school because it’s in a good city and has lots of culture, you’re going to pick it for the academic program and professors there. This is waaay too early to start thinking about which grad school you want to work towards because you really aren’t going to know until later on in undergrad what you really want to research and stuff.</p>

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<p>I’m extremely confused by your post, and why having Greek letters is going to matter to anyone in academia unless they’re PBK or the like.</p>

<p>First of all-- “rich, preppy, white” are not qualities you’re going to find in any urban environment except maybe Georgetown, and even then that applies only to the immediate area. Second, where it makes sense to go to depends entirely on your field of study. Third, you do know that a hugely disproportionate number of faculty in tenure-track positions come from schools ranked in the top ten in their field. Fourth, your getting full scholarship may be a lot easier in some fields than others, and is significantly easier at schools with a lot more financial resources. This is precisely why financial resources matters a lot for grad school outside of pure facilities for science.</p>

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<p>It’s a lot early to start narrowing down potential graduate programs. You should decide whether or not to attend graduate school after you’ve gotten enough experience in your major to decide what your academic interests are, and which professors and programs fit your research interests best.</p>

<p>You can certainly choose a graduate program in the end based on location and cultural factors, but you should absolutely not start your search there. You should start your search by determining which professors are doing research that you’d like to involve yourself with at a very intense level.</p>

<p>Graduate school is very different from undergrad, and it’s not an automatic choice. You should very carefully decide whether you’d like to apply for graduate school, probably not before your junior year of college or so. It’s a big decision, and it shouldn’t be made lightly.</p>

<p>Finally, you shouldn’t be thinking of graduate programs in terms of schools. It won’t matter for your education or your career if your graduate program is based at a “top” undergrad school or not – what matters is whether the program itself is of high quality and has high-quality faculty members. Think in terms of programs rather than in terms of schools.</p>

<p>Check out the [grad</a> school admissions 101](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/348756-graduate-school-admissions-101-a.html]grad”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/348756-graduate-school-admissions-101-a.html) thread if you want to learn more, but this isn’t something you need to be thinking about now.</p>

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<p>No-no-no…you guys missed my idea, which is in order to stay academically focused, I want to buy up some college’s paraphernalia and put it around my study area. That’s all this is for. It’s similar to how at the beginning of the football season some teams will put up plane tickets to the site of the championships, or a countdown calender, or whatever. I know it’s way too soon and this isn’t a practical grad school question, I admit that. It’s just an idea I want to try out when I begin my undergrad. Strong motivation.</p>

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<p>Yeah, that’s an obvious concern that I knew a lot of people would have. The truth is though that all of the Top 25 schools or whatever are pretty much equal in academic quality. Academic prestige, maybe not…but academic quality, yes. Can someone from Princeton really turn their nose up at a Georgetown student? I seriously doubt it. Because there are so many excellent universities, I don’t mind picking one with location being a key factor. Often times the location plays a bigger role than we like to admit and influences the university at every level. Take Tulane for example…fantastic location. Everything about that school is New Orleans with an exclamation mark! Mardi gras, southern, magnolia trees, ivy, St. Charles streetcars, and classy. NYU = NYC. And so on.</p>

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<p>Yeah I get you, modestmelody. That’s why I did mention my major which I’m passionate about – political science, as well as my experiences at Georgetown one summer. As for rich, preppy, white … so are you suggesting that Georgetown is the only university out of the ones I suggested that fits the bill?</p>

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<p>OSU is “a yuppie oasis college town” ? Stillwater? Yuppie? Cowboy is a little more literal there than what some people may expect.
I also have a hard time imagining Tulane as a place for being rich, preppy, and white considering the poor black population in New Orleans is probably about as bad as Baltimore’s – although I guess if you just stay on campus then you’ll be alright. I don’t know about the economic class but I don’t think Atlanta is that white either. The vibe I get from you suggests that maybe you should look towards the west coast instead of the east coast.
You’ve got enthusiasm though… keep it up because you will definitely need it to get through college.</p>

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No, you’re still missing the point.</p>

<p>The top programs in a given field are not equal in quality, both in an absolute sense and because different programs specialize in different subfields. You want to pick the program that’s best academically for you. This does not mean thinking in terms of schools – you shouldn’t be thinking about whether School A is better than School B, but rather about whether the Program of X at School A has more/better faculty members in your particular area of interest than the Program of Y at School B.</p>

<p>Picking a graduate program is a very different process from picking an undergraduate school. Fundamentally, you shouldn’t care about the reputation or quality of the school as a whole, just about the quality of the political science program.</p>

<p>At any rate, if the point is just for interior design, just pick the #1 graduate program in political science and be done with it. USNews says it’s a tie between Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Pick the one that matches the furniture, or something.</p>

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<p>molliebatmit is right! i currently attend undergrad at cornell but will be heading to grad school for masters in history because i want to focus on texas/mexican history…</p>

<p>would be foolish to go anywhere where there are no courses/professors who specialize in texas/mexican history…</p>

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<p>? Rich, preppy, white = culture? I’m not quite seeing it.</p>

<p>Osucowboys, I’m also starting to think about grad school, too, but I’m just an incoming soph in college. While I’m thinking about it, I’m trying to avoid making a set plan that might prevent me from freely exploring other paths that might interest me, while I still can. It’s nice and all that you’re thinking about it, but realistically you are probably going to change interests in college. Since grad school is for studying very specific fields, it doesn’t make sense that you should pick schools right now. Go ahead and buy college spirit stuff to help you get inspired to study, but maybe you should pick something else that will keep you motivated, like a school program or a traveling fellowship for after you graduate.</p>

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<p>I just want to point out that its really gross to want to go to a “rich, preppy, white” school.</p>

<p>It makes me not like this post and definitely not want to respond or care. </p>

<p>I know you are probably 18 years old…but that is just icky and offensive to me. </p>

<p>You should probably NOT try to immerse yourself in any other kind of cultural experience, because you’re a rich, preppy white person who will condescend and be getting “a cultural experience” by lowering yourself to the masses. </p>

<p>Sorry if i’ve billed you wrong. but that’s yuck.</p>

<p>Good luck with those druken toga parties.</p>

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<p>Well, I for one applaud you for wanting to motivate yourself to work hard toward your goal of a graduate level education! You’re dreaming and exploring and that’s a good thing. The specifics of your goal and where you actually end up may change and probably will change, but dreaming and having goals are important. Good luck as you start your college journey! Don’t let anyone kill your enthusiasm for your dreams.</p>

<p>As for Tulane and the city of New Orleans, it is not all poor and uneducated. There are many multi-million dollar homes and the city is as diverse as any other big city. You will see people of all types, races, and financial status riding the streetcars together. It’s a wonderful city and the people are very welcoming.</p>

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<p>How about aiming for the Dean’s list each year instead of putting up a Stanford pennant? That should motivate you to work hard and get good grades – and the goal is both broad and attainable.</p>

<p>You also need to think about the effect of putting up your “grad school decor” will have on your roommates and new friends. Do you really want to seem as though you can’t wait to get out of there before you’ve even begun?</p>

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<p>don’t use a specific grad school to motivate you through college. you’ll feel very, very disappointed when you don’t get in. back in high school, i had a photograph i had taken of berkeley in my binder. didn’t get in, didn’t go, couldn’t be happier with the way things worked out for me. but i was initially disappointed. at the grad level, i wasn’t accepted to my top school, but i was accepted to the school i considered a very close second, and yet part of me still wishes i was going to my top choice even though i’ve since heard a handful of rumours that should make me very thankful that i’m not headed there in the fall.</p>

<p>anyway… pittsburgh’s a nice city. but rich and white and preppy it is most certainly not. the neighbourhoods are somewhat segregated, though, and there’s only a handful that are socially, economically, and racially mixed, so i imagine you could attend either pitt or CMU without seeing too many poor, non-white faces, if that’s what you’re after… for me, that’s the city’s biggest drawback, but whatever. despite the large percentage of lower-middle income inhabitants in the city, there is an inordinate amount of museums, concert halls, and art galleries. if rich and regimented is your idea of culture, there’s plenty of it in pittsburgh. also, there’s plenty of organic culture too, but i don’t think that’s what you’re looking for. pitt’s got a good basketball team if you need something to route for.</p>

<p>the university of miami isn’t actually in miami. it’s in coral gables. mixed income and very close proximity to a large haitian community. you’d need a car (or lots of cab fare) to get to the partying scenes, though i should caution you that grad students don’t have time to party and they definitely don’t have money to spend on cabs.</p>

<p>everyone else has told you about how your approach to thinking about grad school is wrong, and i concur. by the time you finish your BA, you’ll probably come around to viewing grad school more as an academic apprenticeship than as an extension of your undergrad years. in any case, if you’re serious about grad school, and not med school or law school, you can go ahead and drop the frats and student government junk. it’s small potatoes and totally meaningless to grad schools. i wouldn’t be surprised if frat affiliation carried some bias against it within many humanities/social sciences departments. if you want to stay politically engaged, look to joining local or state-wide political parties or volunteering within your community without the attached stigma of toga parties and student government popularity contests. spend what free time you have doing something genuinely productive (yes, i am suggesting that greek organizations are not productive).</p>

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<p>StrangeLight is right - extracurriculars actually hurt more than help, not in the sense that they care but in the sense that spending too much time on them can cause your grades to drop. A LOT of my friends’ grades slipped the semester they joined a fraternity/sorority.</p>

<p>The only things that are important in grad school admission:</p>

<p>-Grades
-GRE
-Letters of recommendation
-Research experience
-Statement of purpose</p>

<p>And that’s it. Belonging to honor societies in your field (NOT social Greek organizations) may help…slightly.</p>

<p>Also, I am also disturbed by the whole rich-white-preppy thing, but some of the locations on your list are laughable. Cleveland? Baltimore? Two of the least white and least preppy-rich places I can think of. Atlanta, New Orleans, Boston, Houston, Pittsburgh, D.C., and Minneapolis are also decidedly not white and not rich and not preppy. There are some neighborhoods of those cities that are (like Cambridge for nearby Boston, Georgetown in D.C., or the Buckhead area in Atlanta) but…it’s so funny because I know that the city proper in Atlanta, D.C., Cleveland, and Baltimore are made up predominantly of people of color. The only place you have on your list that is even close to that description is South Bend.</p>

<p>You don’t have any intrinsic motivation to just do well in school?</p>

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<p>I can also assure you the area surrounding CMU, in the more upscale part of Pittsburgh, is still decidedly more working class than what you’re looking for. There are some neighborhoods (Shadyside and Southside) which aren’t quite the midwest city stereotype, but they’re much more hipster oriented than preppy.</p>

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<p>OSU, I tried to ignore the “white” part of your criteria, but it bothers me, as it clearly does others, that this is part of your goal. To succeed in academia, you’ll need an open mind as well as a variety of experiences, both in and out of your comfort zone. And what does race have to do with motivating yourself to do well in undergrad?</p>

<p>I just hope that this is not a serious post.</p>

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<p>Yeah I knew I’d get more responses if I phrased it as something rich/preppy/white etc. I have two points I’d like to make about that. The first, is that I don’t think I am the one being closed-minded. I’m perfectly open-minded to places like UCLA and/or NYU, I just know better than to think that they are where I would be the happiest. It’s ironic considering how people shutter and become offended when they hear rich/preppy/white… it’s almost like a double-standard for “open-mindedness.” </p>

<p>Second point I’d like to make off that bat is that I have a different standard of “rich/preppy/white,” and that is more inclusive to pretty much any of America’s cleaner urban areas. I’ve only been to maybe 10 major cities with colleges I mentioned, but I would say “preppy areas” includes Georgetown (DC), Shadyside (Pittsburgh), Buckhead (Atlanta), University Park (Dallas), all of Boston, Rice Village (Houston), and so on. Maybe it would have gone down better had I described my zen as simply somewhere with style. I just meant to exclude your Cornell, Princeton, Bowdoin, etc…as well as NYU, Columbia, UCLA, etc. Something in between.</p>

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<p>Thanks MagnoliaMom. I’m just thinking about a 4-year planning…I didn’t mean to offend anyone by being 18 and uttering the words grad school and preppy in the same sentence, but whatever. John Lennon once said life is what happens when you’re making plans (favorite quote) so I’m just going to make plans and have a general direction of where I want to go, enjoy my full ride to college, and have a good time. One thing that will help is knowing what I need to end up with – so thanks juilliet for posting guidelines to consider about grad school admission (I hadn’t considered EC’s as potential negatives). </p>

<p>I liked this quote:

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<p>I think the fundamental reason why I don’t like them is just because I don’t consider myself a political science machine. I think I could be personally comfortable at Harvard, so that is good to know that Harvard is tops for political science. I don’t think I could be personally comfortable on the west coast or in a small town like Princeton, NJ. </p>

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<p>You’re dead wrong there. Tulane is a school that is great at welcoming diversity, but it is far from being “ghetto” if that’s what you’re implying…and I’m NOT the one that has this impression that diversity can’t equate to rich/white/preppy…those are just words I threw together to elimate places like Cornell, MIT, Columbia, NYU (especially), etc. If you actually went to Tulane, and experienced that part of New Orleans you would know how stylish and upscale the Uptown New Orleans area is, which is where Tulane is. It’s also one of those places that inspire romantic images of Southern settings.</p>

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<p>This isn’t what you’re probably going to want to hear…but no. Why should I want to do well in school just for the sake of it? I’m not one of those people that obsessively love the letter ‘A’. I am however an incredibly motivated person once I set my mind on a goal. Knowing that there are several different directions I could go in and having a general idea of what each direction requires is what makes me excel.</p>

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<p>BTW…I did study the USNWR list. That’s why all of those schools I listed reside in the top 50 of the political science grad school list. I suppose a question I’d have is…are all top 50 schools relatively equal, only a few points apart, or would there be a HUGE difference between Rice (I think in the 30s for political science) and say…Harvard, which is #1, or Emory (which I think is in the 20s)…</p>

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<p>You totally cracked me up with your statement on Greek life as resume booster… HAHAHA.</p>

<p>You’re eager… for what? Graduate school or undergrad? SLOW DOWN. SLOW DOWN. SLOW DOWN. Say it and say it often. Your 4 years will fly very fast and you should savor every day in college. It’s your last 4 years of freedom and independence while being a kid/student. Once you go out, even for graduate school, you’re loaded with more adult responsibilities and are no longer treated as a kid. Enjoy it. Take classes in different subjects. They’ll help your major may it be philosophy, area studies, anthropology, etc. ECs are fine as long they don’t affect your grades.</p>

<p>I do definitely recommend, not, I’ll say required, that you STUDY ABROAD. Get out of your white preppy OSU and plant yourself somewhere else. Try to avoid the UK and western Europe and Germany if you can. Then you’ll understand what “culture” is.</p>

<p>For pleasure, you should totally read “Stuff That White People Like.” Sounds like it’s right up your alley.</p>

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<p>you want to be motivated for the sake of being motivated</p>

<p>wow</p>

<p>think about graduate school IF you find something you want to research for the rest of your academic career. if youre barely just going to college, how are you so sure youre even going to like the coursework. how do you even know you can achive the grades you want when youve never even taken a class. college isnt high school–the students in your college are all going to be the same level as you were in hs.</p>

<p>you cant decide to attend grad school a priori to even doing bona fide research.</p>