<p>Since my undergrad application process is over, a few thoughts about graduate school have been crossing my mind. First of all, does anyone know a rough estimate of what % of all students from the top 20 (USnews) ranked colleges go on to graduate school? And, in the long run, is it more important to go to a good undergrad school or a good graduate school? I'm talking in terms of success and quality of education.</p>
<p>Of course I know that graduate school is not for everyone, and that it all depends on the person. These are just a few things I'm curious about.</p>
<p>Edit: One more thing...how hard is it to get into grad school? Would you say it's harder to get into a top school for undergrad or grad, given that the applicant is from a top undergrad school.</p>
<p>Depends on the type of grad school and field. If you're referring to professional schools like pharmd, jd, md or do, then your undergrad institution is irrelevant. However, if you're looking for ms/phd then your undergrad school makes a big difference. More importantly, the opportunities that your undergrad institution can afford you will be ultimately what actually counts eg research experience, internships, externships, special programs, senior theses etc.</p>
<p>It's harder to get into a top undergrad school than grad school for most fields. I imagine there's exceptions for some liberal arts fields because there's so many people out there looking for higher education in them since, well, there's not a whole lot a BS in Medieval Literature can get you.</p>
<p>Estimating the % of students from top 20 schools is a somewhat meaningless statistic, since there's a lot of people that pursue education after leaving for a few years. Statistics also vary a ton from field to field. I know in my undergrad department (Materials Science & Engineering) about half of us went to grad school, while in my roommate's ECE department it wasn't nearly that high of a percent.</p>
<p>And the prestige of your grad school isn't the most significant part; it's the work you do and the reputation of the professor you do your work for. I wound up going to a non-top 10 school in my field over a number of top 10 schools because of the person I'd be working for.</p>
<p>It varies. I've seen a LOT of students go to grad school from a "lesser" school and sometimes nobody goes from the Little Ivies... it depends what the people's ultimate interests are. I mean, there are some "feeder" undergrads like Reed, but in general... it depends on the student body. The more motivated and passionate the students are about learning and expecting the best from themselves, the more likely they will apply to grad school eventually.</p>
<p>It's quite tough, depending on the program. Professional programs are tough as PhDs but I think funded PhDs are very tough. My field (history).... the numbers are in single digits for acceptance rates. MAs are easier to get in providing that you have a strong reason for it, decent GPA, and good letters.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter where you go for undergrad as long you have a good program in the field that you're interested in, especially if you want a PhD. Otherwise, you could be looking at doing a MA first to strengthen your application. As for other degrees, it's the experience, test scores, and GPA that count for more. It is possible to go from a below-top-10 school to a top-10 like me. Unfortunately, as an undergrad (especially a freshman) you don't really quite know what makes a department good until you've gotten into it so you get what you get.</p>
<p>It is true that the prestige doesn't quite matter for grad school but sometimes that's where all the amazing professors are. It actually drives me crazy that the professors that I want and can only work with are all in top 20 programs with difficult admissions!</p>
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And the prestige of your grad school isn't the most significant part; it's the work you do and the reputation of the professor you do your work for.
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<p>That is, if you're going to stay in your field. Many grad students don't. I know plenty of PhD's who ended up in going to other fields (i.e. banking and consulting) where the companies do not understand and don't really care about the work you did and probably have never even heard of your advisor.</p>