<p>To what extent is it true that attending a university as an undergraduate makes it harder for you to gain admittance to one of the university's graduate programs? How true is this for the Ivy League schools?</p>
<p>if you are at the top of your class at a top tier school, it will benefit you more than a similiar ranking at an easier school.</p>
<p>oh dear. :( i'm going to go to a less known lac but with hopes getting into a top grad school. i got into cool schools though, but i had to decline those acceptances.</p>
<p>dont listen to the high schoolers on this board who think they know about grad school admissions. you will NOT be penalized for going to a "lesser" school. i know so many people who went to schools outside the top 25 who are now at top grad schools, including many ivies. just do well, rock your GRE/MCAT/LSAT/whatever, and you'll be fine.</p>
<p>How important is it to know if you plan on going to grad school when you're applying to colleges? Do you have to tell them that on the applications?</p>
<p>No, as students take courses they change their minds and their majors (some a number of times).</p>
<p>blah06, listen to huskem55. Actually by going to a LAC you have a better shot than some kid who goes to a top public and is just an anonymous student in the crowd. You'll get to know profs, get personal attention, and if you are a good student will have a solid shot at a top grad program. What determines whether you get into a good grad program is what YOU do in college, not the name on the diploma.</p>
<p>Going to an LAC doesn't give you a "better shot" at grad admissions, it just means the opportunities are more staring you in the face. And while law/med schools may not really care where you're from as long as it isn't a community college or Harvard, many PhD programs show bias to schools strong in their area (although many of the more popular subjects, like, say, Biology, Chemistry, etc. have strong programs at almost any schools.)</p>
<p>The OP seems to be asking about a bias grad programs may have against graduates of the undergraduate college(s) on the same campus.</p>
<p>It depends what you are going into. Honestly its been my experience that the top professional schools have a bigtime top school bias, but maybe only those students are getting the top scores on the GMAT, LSAT, etc.</p>