<p>Hi all</p>
<p>I am currently a sophomore in Case Western Reserve University, engineering physics major. Now I have earned 97 credits with GPA 3.9/4. I may graduate 2 or 3 semesters later and really want to enroll in a top-ranking graduate school.</p>
<p>CWRU is a good college, but the ranking of my major is comparatively low (national #77). Will this become a burden? What do I need to prepare in the rest of my undergraduate life?</p>
<p>Are you involved in research? The name/rank of your school is not important; your research experience is. Unless you’re interested in a non-thesis Masters, in which case, I’m not sure–do well in your classes.</p>
<p>I assume you are talking about the ranking of the grad school, which you are not enrolled in, so I don’t see the relevance for you as an undergrad. You have a fantastic gpa, but having extensive research is much more important. If you aren’t involved now, that is going to be difficult to obtain in just a couple of semesters. You should be talking to advisors in your department about your goals and how to get there.</p>
<p>I would get involved in research ASAP! If you plan on going to graduate school then the most important thing for your application is research experience given that you have a good GPA. Research experience will also bring forth letters of recommendation, another important thing to consider for graduate school applications. Something else you could do is participate in REUs during your sophomore and junior summers. Many top ranked universities, such as MIT, have summer REU programs that students from other schools can participate in. </p>
<p>Don’t worry about your school ranking, I just graduated from a state school that is raked quite low and I will be going to Stanford for graduate school .</p>
<p>Work hard and enjoy your time in undergrad! </p>