Undergrad --> Grad (SAME school?)

<p>How likely is it to get into grad school at the same institution you went to for undergrad? Does it depend A LOT on the concentration and/or school, or is there a general consensus that if you went there already, you can/can't go there again?</p>

<p>It depends, first of all, on concentration. Certain departments tend to welcome their own undergrads, sometimes even more so than undergrads from other schools.</p>

<p>In departments that generally discourage their own undergrads from remaining at the same institution for graduate studies, this discouragement can range, from a complete refusal to accept their own undergraduates, to simply raising the bar for its undergrads to be accepted.</p>

<p>Many top rated departments in the social sciences and humanities discourage people who majored in the department as an undergraduate from applying to the PhD program in the department. This is more often a policy than a rule, and often doesn’t apply to people applying for a master’s degree. It also seems to be less true in the sciences and engineering. The reason for the policy does not reflect their view of the quality of the undergraduate major, but rather is the belief that a PhD student should be exposed to different points of view, and most departments are small. Since it often takes 5-8 years to complete a PhD, do you really want to spend 9-12 years working with the same faculty?</p>

<p>Gotcha. Thanks!</p>