<p>How important is the prestige of the undergraduate school in getting into graduate schools? Is it more dependent on grades and research or can a great grade at an average college prevent admittance to good graduate programs?</p>
<p>What are the specifics? What college and what grad school & program?</p>
<p>A good GPA from an average college can never preclude you from getting into a top school. Those from good undergrads do have an advantage in that their profs are typically more prominent and as a result have more clout with their letters of recommendation. Tons of people from average schools make it into top grad schools. It just so happens these people are among the top students at their respective schools. This topic also needs to stop being asked over and over and over again.</p>
<p>Thanks for the helpful response Blah2009. I just joined here a few days ago and am unfamiliar with the site and the search. I appreciate you helping me anyways.</p>
<p>Short Answer: It doesn't matter that much for the vast majority of programs. There are exceptions to this, of course, but graduating at the top of your class from No Name State U will seldom put you at a distinct disadvantage when applying to grad programs.</p>
<p>ok so basically thers no difference between bioengineering at ucb ucla or ucsd cuz theyr all good except that the ranks go like this 14 above 30 and 4 and those r for undergraduate. but would it be better to go to a higher ranked school cuz of the research and internships?</p>
<p>What you just posted was incoherent as ****.</p>
<p>Another interesting point regarding the importance of attending a prestigious undergrad is that sometimes, especially for professional degrees like MBA's or JD's, you will be helped by attending no name undergrads because admissions boards for some of these programs like having cohorts that are as diverse as possible. I know a few students who were accepted to fairly prestigious MBA programs due partly to the fact that they attended big state schools which is something the admissions commitees at these schools were looking for.</p>
<p>@Blah2009: I agree. You'd think grad school prospectives would have learned better by now. (Personally, I can't stand to see things like "r" and "becuz" crop up in anything, at any age.)</p>
<p>^^ Amen :) My 18 year old brother can't stand that I write everything out but I told him that I'm just older and it's just automatic because I type SOOO many papers! He'll change in 4 years. Apparently, this kid is much younger than we'd like to think...</p>
<p>ok i'll type nice and professional for all you idiots who can't adjust and read a somewhat sloppy paragraph. I was asking if undergraduate rankings are important to what graduate programs you apply to, and if they are then how much compared to a school's prestige.</p>
<p>hye raed htis uyo omron lol im 19 n a engineer who the **** cares about english????</p>
<p>Clearly you're not an engineer, if you're asking about getting into grad school. And who cares about English? Prospective schools and employers. You know, no one important.</p>
<p>Good luck getting helpful responses with that attitude.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Another interesting point regarding the importance of attending a prestigious undergrad is that sometimes, especially for professional degrees like MBA's or JD's, you will be helped by attending no name undergrads because admissions boards for some of these programs like having cohorts that are as diverse as possible. I know a few students who were accepted to fairly prestigious MBA programs due partly to the fact that they attended big state schools which is something the admissions commitees at these schools were looking for.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, let me put it to you this way. Of all of the HBS MBA's who are in the alumni database, by far the most represented of all undergrad schools is, unsurprisingly, Harvard itself, with a whopping 3237 former undergrads.</p>
<p>Compare that with some of the largest schools in the country (which all happen to be state schools), in order of total size according to Wikipedia, with the representation in the HBS MBA alumni database in parentheses:</p>
<p>Ohio State (103)
UFlorida (59)
Arizona State (27)
University of Minnesota (97)
UTexas - 263 (and another 23 listed under "UT-Austin")
University of Central Florida (1)
Texas A&M (140)
Michigan State (92)
Penn State (145)
University of Wisconsin (132 + another 45 listed as "UWisconsin-Madison")</p>
<p>List</a> of largest United States universities by enrollment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>Each of these schools has about 7-8 times the number of undergrads that Harvard College does, yet their proportions within the HBS alumni database are no more than 10% than that of Harvard College. In other words, the overall per-capita proportion is a tiny 1-2% relative to Harvard College.</p>
<p>Now, to be fair, some of that is geographic. Maybe somebody from Arizona State is more likely to want to go to want to stay in the state of Arizona to get their MBA. But come on, this is HBS we're talking about; it's the only B-school that has a whopping 90%+ yield rate, with nobody else even close (i.e. even Stanford GSB's yield rate is only ~75%). While I can appreciate some level of geographic preference, it can't be that strong. Hence, I think maybe it's fair to double the per-capita comparisons, but that still means that the state school representation is quite miniscule.</p>
<p>The margin is closing between HBS and SBS with harvard having an 88% yield and Stanford with a 80% yield this past year.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The margin is closing between HBS and SBS with harvard having an 88% yield
[/quote]
</p>
<p>89% to be exact.</p>
<p>But I would hardly take a single year to be a trend of anything.</p>
<p>88.2% doesn't round to 89%. And besides, Stanford beats Harvard in selectivity based on acceptance rate and GMAT scores.</p>
<p>Sakky,</p>
<p>Using harvard, the most prestigious B-School on earth, as your lone example in this situation is dubious at best. Sure, going to a prestigious undergrad will never HURT your application and will often be used as a tie breaker against an equally qualified student who went to a less rigorous or well known undergrad institution. That said, to pretend that the top B-Schools are barred to graduates from lower ranked undergrad institutions is ludircous, as anecdotal and statistical evidence proves otherwise. To say that B-Schools such as Harvard are PREFERENTIAL towards their own or towards other Ivy League grads is certainly no stretch however, as evidenced by the stats you cited beforehand.</p>
<p>Sorry to kinda hijack you guys' conversation.. Does diversity counts a lot for B- school admissions?..</p>
<p>
[quote]
88.2% doesn't round to 89%
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Where do you get your numbers from? Mine's from BW. </p>
<p>
[quote]
And besides, Stanford beats Harvard in selectivity based on acceptance rate and GMAT scores.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>So? Harvard beats Stanford in terms of GPA. More importantly, I believe it was shown that Harvard beats Stanford in cross-admits. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Using harvard, the most prestigious B-School on earth, as your lone example in this situation is dubious at best.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Um, compared to your examples? Oh wait, that's right, you didn't have any examples. At least I had one. So maybe you'd like to rethink who's really being dubious here. </p>
<p>
[quote]
That said, to pretend that the top B-Schools are barred to graduates from lower ranked undergrad institutions is ludircous, as anecdotal and statistical evidence proves otherwise.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Uh, when exactly did I ever suggest that the top B-schools "bar" those from lower-ranked undergrad institutions? In fact, I specifically stated that even the University of Central Florida was represented with one person in the HBS MBA alumni database. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Sure, going to a prestigious undergrad will never HURT your application and will often be used as a tie breaker against an equally qualified student who went to a less rigorous or well known undergrad institution.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
Sakky,</p>
<p>Using harvard, the most prestigious B-School on earth, as your lone example in this situation is dubious at best. Sure, going to a prestigious undergrad will never HURT your application and will often be used as a tie breaker against an equally qualified student who went to a less rigorous or well known undergrad institution. That said, to pretend that the top B-Schools are barred to graduates from lower ranked undergrad institutions is ludircous, as anecdotal and statistical evidence proves otherwise. To say that B-Schools such as Harvard are PREFERENTIAL towards their own or towards other Ivy League grads is certainly no stretch however, as evidenced by the stats you cited beforehand.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't even know that it's a case of 'tie-breakers' or preference to their own undergrads (or Ivy undergrads in general). In the case of MBA admissions, it seems to me that this is far more of a case that those from top undergrad programs tend to get those kinds of jobs that are strong feeders to the top MBA programs. Elite strategy consulting and Ibanking immediately come to mind. Let's face it. It's practically impossible to get into McKinsey if you're coming out of the University of Central Florida, and a company like McKinsey provides you with ample opportunity to build the sort of resume that the top B-schools like. Most other jobs are far less generous in that respect.</p>