<p>How much does the reputation of the undergraduate program affect grad school admissions?</p>
<p>I'm currently a sophomore undergrad considering transferring into a slightly less prestigious institution.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>It does matter, but slightly less should be fine.</p>
<p>there's a thread regarding this on the archives.</p>
<p>(i only know because i had to dig through it yesterday to pull out another repeated question)</p>
<p>I'm thinking:</p>
<p>NYU Stern School of Business --> University of Maryland, College Park</p>
<p>NYU comes in at about no. 37 in rankings (US News, I believe). However, Stern itself ranks 5th among all business schools (Businessweek), and 2nd in finance (the most popular major here by far).</p>
<p>in that case, i think it would matter pretty significantly</p>
<p>Honestly, it won't matter. Figure that if you're within the same tier (say, by 100-school intervals or so), it doesn't matter.</p>
<p>if you're a finance major, then I would say it matters a lot. Having spent so much time at Wharton and having so many friends on Wall Street, trust me. It matters.</p>
<p>if u go to a good school, ur grades matter. if you go to a lower-tiered school, your GRE's matter, i.e. the GRE's is the indicator of how believable your grades are in that case.</p>
<p>
[quote]
if u go to a good school, ur grades matter. if you go to a lower-tiered school, your GRE's matter, i.e. the GRE's is the indicator of how believable your grades are in that case.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>So a 4.0 at Caltech would look the same as a 4.0 at San Jose state given the same GRE scores?</p>
<p>@ student14x:
thank you for giving a clear example to counter the lunacy going on on this thread. did someone actually state that schools within 100 schools of each other in rankings are in the same tier??!?!?! just look at schools near the top of the us news rankings (ivies, elite LACs, etc..) and the schools near 100 (you probably haven't even heard of these schools). </p>
<p>As someone who has attended both a mediocre state school and an Ivy during undergrad, I am well aware of the divergence in the ability of other students (makes ranking and beating the curve much more difficult) and the rigor of the classes. Adcoms have to be incredibly naive to ignore the undergrad reputation considering how much more is required at top schools to perform well and stand out for recommendations and such.</p>
<p>bo435, it matters so much that you need a degree from HYPWharton to get a job on Wall ST?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the answer to this question will differ for professional school (MBA, Law, maybe Medicine) compared to grad school (Ph.D.) </p>
<p>Professional school admissions seems to be much more formulaic, where numbers, reputation and such matter much more than grad school, which is much more holistic.</p>
<p>The OP's not talking about a difference between Caltech and San Jose State. S/he's talking about a difference between NYU and UMCP. Come on.</p>
<p>I think that the rank number itself does not matter. However,</p>
<p>Grad schoolsare looking for:
Recommendation letters
SOP
Experiences (Research, lab, etc.)
GPA/GRE</p>
<p>Normally, a better ranked school have more well-known professors, diverse research opportunities, and even more job/intern/co-op opportunities (since the industry does look at your school rep.)... Therefore you will most likely be prepared better than studying at a lower ranked school in that area.</p>
<p>But back to your question... the ranking and school reputaion does not matter IMO, but it really comes down to what you have done during your undergrad.</p>
<p>of course you don't have to have a degree from one of the ivies, but it does make it a lot easier due to alumni network and connections. Traditionally, a lot of ppl on wall street come from these schools. The ranking and school does not directly matter, but indirectly, a prestigious school opens up a lot more doors. When it all comes down to it, it all depends on you. Being in a more prestigious school can provide you more with the opportunities that you deserve. There's a reason why people flock from all over the world to go to the Ivy Leagues. It's a competitive world, and people know that. If reputation truly doesn't matter, then people should just be content with their nearby state college, where they don't have to compete as much, have more fun, and end up in the same place as everyone else. if you transfer from Stern to U maryland, it will affect you when it comes to grad admissions. there may be things that u maryland will provide that will counter this effect. The bottom line is reputation does matter a lot. It's not 100% fair sometimes, but it does matter.</p>
<p>bo345, how about a prestigious LAC? Is it comparable to the ivies?</p>
<p>Depends on what you want to do. I would say the Ivies will give you the opportunities in some aspects that LACs can't provide, and on the other hand, LACs also has their respective advantages. In some aspects of higher education, LACs do much better than the Ivies, and in some aspects, they do not. I think your question needs to be a bit more specific.</p>
<p>hmm.. let's say getting an IB job inside/outside the US?</p>
<p>Goodness. A little prententious of you. Top schools give you the best alumni network that will lead you to wherever you want to go. So don't worry about choosing Ivy over LAC. You just don't really know until you give a school a try.</p>
<p>tmp, adn Bo435, too,</p>
<p>I've hesitated to chime in here because I wanted to see where it is going. </p>
<p>The issue of the value of a "name" education, such as the Ivy one each of you pushes, is debatable. Certainly, the academic research on this (see Kruger and Dale, or Hoxby, for example) shows no or a small effect on earnings. </p>
<p>Regarding the value of the "network", whether during school or afterwards, again, there is little evidence that shows value in this. This is for a number of reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>many students arrive at elite institutions with an existing network of family and friends connections. So, yes, many HYP students get jobs on wall street, because their family and friends pre-dating college have connections there, not because of a HYP advantage. (and these connections are hard to share with roomies...)</p></li>
<li><p>outside the northeast, there are many good places to work that have few or no Ivy grads. They do have many grads from the local state uni. So jobs in these areas would be better found through regional alumni networks. </p></li>
<li><p>keep in mind that stastically, you are more likely to be interviewing with someone who was turned down by an ivy, or whose kid was turned down, than by a fellow alum. If you think there is no anti-ivy sentiment out there, then you probably have not been in the working world much. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>This stuff regarding the value of the ivy alum network borders on urban legend, but is certainly hyped by the schools involved.</p>