<p>Does a good graduate school in lets say chemical engineering mean that its undergrad school is also good. like MIT, Berkely, UCSB, Stanford, Princeton.... they are all top 10 grad schools in chem E, so does that mean their undergrad is also that good???</p>
<p>Also, if they are, does going to a really good undergrad in chemical engineering help get you into a better graduate school eng??? or is it the letters of rec from the teachers??? if so, is it better to go to a smaller school like Carnegie Mellon and get good letters of rec to go to a Big name Grad school???</p>
<p>Finally, i want to get my B.S. in chemical engineering, and my M.S. in Biomedical engineering. i live in san diego. So i really want my Grad school to be at UCSD for BME. any tips or hints in how to get into UCSD biomed eng grad school???? Like what they are looking for, or what schools they like best for their incoming grad students???</p>
<p>Need help bad :(</p>
<p>Does a good graduate school in lets say chemical engineering mean that its undergrad school is also good? No.</p>
<p>“if so, is it better to go to a smaller school like Carnegie Mellon and get good letters of rec to go to a Big name Grad school?” Ouch. Good luck with that one.</p>
<p>In broad generalities, the “better” the undergrad school, the easier to get into a “better” grad school. But this is broad enough to drive a truck through it. </p>
<p>You seem to have some idea of what you want. May I suggest you take a look at the schools which work in the field you want, pick a couple of the professors, and give them a call. Ask them what they would want in a student applying to their program. You may have to do this via email, and you should be ready for a few slammed doors. If that happens you can try calling the dean of the school and asking whoever answers the phone where you might be able to get some information.</p>
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<p>How do you define “good”? If you mean “well respected”, then yes. With a few exceptions, people generally look at the strength of the graduate program as a proxy for the strength of the undergraduate program.</p>
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<p>Your undergraduate school is only one part of your application, but it is a part. The same GPA, research, and references are more impressive coming from a top school.</p>
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<p>What makes you think that a small school will get you better reference letters? You don’t get good reference letters by sitting in class. You need to talk to professors after class, meet them in their office, and perform research for them. In those settings, you’re one-on-one regardless of the size of the university.</p>
<p>And why is Carnegie Mellon not a “big name”?</p>