<p>I know this is really early considering I am just going to be entering undergrad, but what advice would anyone have for what I can do in undergrad to be able to go to a grad school like MIT or Caltech. I am going into ChemE at a lower ranked undergrad school (Illinois Tech), but I'm not sure what I should do in order to make it into a very good grad program. I want to take an environmental approach to ChemE (aka environment sustainability), but without going into something like Environmental Engineering. Would double majoring in something like Chemistry help or would that just be too much? Or would it just be better to get a minor or perhaps take different courses in the other areas I am interested in. </p>
<p>Take heed of the first two replies (good GPA + research) and apply to the grad schools then. Even if you do not get admitted as fully-funded, then either…</p>
<p>1) Get some work experience and apply again a few years later…or</p>
<p>2) Take some graduate courses someplace else (with a good GPA you are bound to get admitted at something ranked #10 to #20)…get high grades and apply again…or</p>
<p>3) If possible take a graduate course or two at CalTech or MIT on your employer’s dime and apply again.</p>
<p>3.5+ is good for most top grad schools. For somewhere like MIT, you will usually need more of that 3.75 range. You can get into quite a few good schools as long as your GPA is 3.0+ if you have other strengths to make up for a semi-low GPA, such as high GRE, research experience and/or good professor recommendations.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice. I already have research lined up for the summer after my Freshman year luckily. GPA is going to probably be the hardest thing considering what I have heard about engineering courses.</p>
<p>How do you think Grad Schools would look at studying abroad? I am able to do it for free and I have heard it is typically beneficial.</p>
<p>A 3.75 from MIT > 3.75 from Iowa State. If 3.75+ is good enough from a top undergrad program, what’s good enough for a school like, ohhh say Iowa State?</p>
<p>If you have a 3.75 no matter where you go, it looks good for Top Schools. So if you are coming from a school like Iowa state, your stats should look like:</p>
<p>GPA- 3.7-3.9
GRE: 780+ Q 600+ V
And a lot of research exp./good recs.</p>
<p>GPA, in some ways, transcends the school you are at. They are looked at fairly separately. if you have a 4.0, for example, you stand a chance anywhere regardless of where you earned that 4.0. Undergrad institution comes into play when you have someone who is borderline for getting in or borderline for funding. At that point, if they see you went to a great undergraduate school, it can help push you over the edge.</p>
<p>“so there’s no backdoor way to get into the top 10 schools like UC Berkeley?”</p>
<p>I am not saying that there is no “backdoor” way for the Top 10 schools but they sure do not promise it. Columbia boldly says that completing one of their graduate certificates in engineering does NOT guarantee admission to the M.S. program. Now we all know that you need a minimum 3.0 GPA just to graduate with anything at the graduate level so that tells me that even “acing” 2 or 3 courses as a non-degree student won’t do the trick there.</p>
<p>Also (and I looked at a few of them), I didn’t even see the phrase “non-degree graduate status” or “provisional/conditional admission” at the Cal-Berkeley’s/MIT’s/Cornell’s. Seems like those schools are not into the “backdoor route”.</p>
<p>I got into U-Wisconsin and they had a top-10 I.E. program (I did systems engineering there) but they are not in the top-10 overall in engineering.</p>
<p>Just telling what I saw and read in the admission parts of the catalogs.</p>
<p>Columbia’s conditions for direct admission to continue onto MS from BS requires a 3.4 minimum gpa for its own students. The EE department strictly enforces this rule and no exceptions are made. I think its impossible for someone with less than a 3.5 to be admitted with a BS from another university. </p>
<p>Most important factor is GPA. A 3.8+ is important for Cal Tech/Stanford/MIT. 3.5+ for schools such as UCB and Cornell.</p>
<p>Undergraduate research experience is also an important factor to graduate admission for high tier programs such as Cal Tech/Stanford/MIT. Everyone who got into these programs at my school had extensive research experience. At least 2-3 years would make you a competitive candidate. In addition, you can have your advisor write you a killer recommendation.</p>
<p>Absense in the above and high GRE scores and participation in student projects may bail you out if applying for mid-tier programs, but won’t get you by for the top programs mentioned above.</p>
<p>Get very involved with research, and if at all possible contact people at the schools you’re interested in that are doing relevant research. For the two or three seconds that I was considering grad school I noticed there was a lot of “well we like you to have a good GPA and GRE but I’m a tenured professor and if I want you there to do my research…”</p>
<p>One of my son’s friends from UCLA undergrad is now a grad student at CalTech. He didn’t just get A’s in his major, he got several A+'s as well, even though they count the same as an A in gpa calculations. He says that his fellow grad students at CalTech are all the same way, extremely driven and hard working.</p>