<p>Was browsing the site when this forum seemed to be very useful</p>
<p>Let me give a birds eye view of my credentials -
Objective: Long term- work in R&D -Biotech
GRE: Verbal=510/800 and Quants =780/800
TOEFl: 277/300
Grade: First class with distinction (first in college)- B'lore University, India
Percentile: 95</p>
<p>My problem -
I took admission in a very small school (comes in third tier-southern universities-masters) ... this is because my husband works in that area and there was this one school nearby. I am filling very bad (on one hand family life is important while on the other hand i really want to study in a good school to secure my future).</p>
<p>i wanted to know if there is a difference between a degree from a top tier and third tiers? And is my credentials good enough to have gotten into a better school?</p>
<p>I am in a big dilemma...</p>
<p>Would appreciate some thoughts regarding this matter...</p>
<p>um, BIG difference, why do you think college admission is so competitive. The future is so cloudy for everyone, and the only thing one can do for now is work hard and go to the best school possible. The best schools carry the most prestige and open the most doors.</p>
<p>the problem is my husband has sacrificed a part of his career for me and i dont know how to tell him that i want to be a part of the top 100...</p>
<p>infact i keep writing to Profs to know if they have openings in their department for a new grad student and often get positive replies. but i am unable to decide...</p>
<p>do u think one can do a masters, work and later come back and do complete PhD from a better school? is it feasible?</p>
<p>For graduate work, it is less the name of the school than the quality of the program. For example, in Basic Neuroscience you are better off at UC San Francisco, than Harvard.</p>
<p>It is possible to take a step up from the undergrad college you go to when you apply to grad school. I received my BA from Kalamazoo College, a steady school but not one you'd see discussed much on these boards (ranked 82 in Princeton Review). For grad school, I received a Ph.D. in history from Brown University and an M.Ln. from Emory University, both schools ranked considerably higher. I was also accepted at UChicago, Johns Hopkins, and UMichigan, and rejected at Yale and Cornell. </p>
<p>You can go to a lower tier school but just make sure you work your tush off and end up first in your college class if you want to step up.</p>
<p>Faculty connections can overcome where one earns an undergraduate degree. I became well known to a faculty member at UChicago where I earned a Ph.D. after never finishing at a traditional 4 year college (I had flunked out of a 5th tier, at best, college; but subsequently was awarded a "life-experience" degree), and gained admission, while a friend from Duke with very high scores a very good recommendations was not admitted.</p>
<p>The moral: If you really want to go some place, visit the campus, meet faculty, and sit in on classes (I did for two consecutive quarters).</p>
<p>If you're planning to continue living in the place where you are living now, it may be that the degree from the local third tier will do best by you because it would give you the local contacts to do well in the job market.</p>
<p>Being an outstanding student from the local third tier might open more doors than being an outstanding student from a more highly rated college (and, yes, you have the credentials to be going to a more highly rated college). This is because your third tier's colleges professors probably know lots of people locally who would open doors for you in terms of a good job locally. </p>
<p>Their (and your) personal contacts locally might be more effective than your having a degree from an Ivy or similar school, which in some provincial places in the US are looked upon with suspicion.</p>