<p>Do you agree with this statement, assuming the student is planning on going to a respected Graduate school? In my high school (as I'm sure in yours, as well), competition and the desire to get into that "Brand name school" is EVERYWHERE...Just the other day (I'm a Senior this year), I heard the most stuck-up girls talk about where they were applying ... </p>
<p>"Hmm... I guess I'll apply to Berkeley and UCLA, as safeties, but I really want to go to Northwestern or Columbia..." </p>
<p>It's like they already KNOW they're going to be accepted, and now that it's senior year, they're not wasting any time flaunting their straight-A academic performance. Granted, they deserve to, but I still think it's a private matter. </p>
<p>So, before resuming off-track, do YOU feel that there's too much hype regarding the Undergrad applications process, or are you indifferent?</p>
<p>Erm, yeah -- I would think that prospective employers would look at your MOST RECENT success in the academic setting before they hire you -- just as post-bachelor's/master's won't care much for HS grades and colleges won't care for elementary school grades.</p>
<p>I hear grad schools care more about GPA and test scores, although having an alum as your admissions person is supposed to help too.</p>
<p>Undergraduate school matters A LOT in graduate admissions. Though the consensus is by far that grad school is more important, chances are that you're not going to get into a top grad school unless you went to a top undergrad school.</p>
<p>Most grad schools admit about 10-20 students per year in each particular area, and many of these admitted students are foreign. That leaves approximately 10 domestic students each year. Those 10 domestic students therefore have to be safe picks, and the safest you can get is by picking the student from known, quality programs. Of course, there are always anomalies.</p>
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I hear grad schools care more about GPA and test scores, although having an alum as your admissions person is supposed to help too.
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<p>Actually, top grad schools don't care much at all about these things. They look for excellent recommendations, good grades in the hardest courses, and if you're not from a rigorous school, they'll look at your GRE scores. But more than anything, they want to know that you went through a very rigorous 4 years as an undergraduate. And the best way to accomplish this is by being a student in a top undergraduate program.</p>
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So, before resuming off-track, do YOU feel that there's too much hype regarding the Undergrad applications process, or are you indifferent?
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<p>There is way too much hype regarding undergrad admissions. The fact is, admissions at most places is a total crapshoot. There's no good way to accurately judge the intelligence of a student, so except at a few places, admissions is mostly judged by the faulty SAT.</p>
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There's no good way to accurately judge the intelligence of a student, so except at a few places, admissions is mostly judged by the faulty SAT.
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I'm not really doubting the validity of this but moreso that I'm interested in this fact (I've heard other people say otherwise like the seniors and etc), so link? Otherwise...</p>
<p>Lol, wait -- your 1st sentence says that they don't care for grades and test scores, and your 2nd lists grades and scores as 2 of your three criteria.</p>
<p>Lol, and I would imagine that they would prefer that you excel in a somewhat strenuous environment than fall to mediocrity in a very strenuous one.</p>
<p>Then again, all of this is based off of an article I read a while back, haha, so don't place too much weight on my words -- I'm not quite willing to, erm, find and cite my sources...</p>
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Lol, wait -- your 1st sentence says that they don't care for grades and test scores, and your 2nd lists grades and scores as 2 of your three criteria.
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<p>Perhaps I'm being a bit pedantic, but I will elucidate here. GPA doesn't matter. Firstly, classes not in your major don't count. Secondly, if student A took medium-difficulty courses and got a 3.8, and student B took very difficult courses and got a 3.6, then student B will have the advantage. The grades themselves aren't what matters-- it's rigor of the classes that's the important part.</p>
<p>As for my comment about tests, GRE scores only matter if you didn't go to a particularly rigorous school. Graduate committees know the details about the programs of the top schools, but when they don't know about a program, they'll look at your GRE score. However, the GRE is just too risky to put too much weight on, so even if you get close to perfect, if you're from an unknown undergraduate institution, you may be regarded as a risk student.</p>
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Lol, and I would imagine that they would prefer that you excel in a somewhat strenuous environment than fall to mediocrity in a very strenuous one.
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<p>Of course. I'm not questioning that. But since graduate (especially PhD, which I'm referring to most of the time) admission is extremely competitive, neither a mediocre student at a prestigious university nor a great student at a mediocre university may get into their top choices.</p>
<p>From what I read and hear about the medical fields (MD and PharmD) and maybe law, gpa is a major factor. Not getting the required gpa means that your application won't be touched by human hands. unless your MCAT or PCAT is abnormally high. So taking an easier courseload would not be looked down upon since many medical schools have gpa cutoffs. The only places where going to a prestigious undergrad would matter would probably be if you want to go to one of the top 10 ranked programs in the nation.</p>
<p>Graduate school and Med/Law/Business schools are thought of as separate entities. When I say 'graduate school', I'm not referring to Med/Law/Business schools.</p>
<p>The way I look at it is that at each step of everything people get separated. When you go from high school to college (all things being equal), if you go to say University of Michigan then you are in a better position coming out then say your classmate who goes to Eastern Michigan. So when applying for grad school or getting that first job, all things being equal, people will take people from Michigan then Eastern Michigan. Just like when you go to college and University of Michigan has to decide between taking you from the top 50 high school in the country or someone from an inner city school. I look at things from a general perspective and look at what happens most frequently. So in regards to your question, yes, where you go to undergrad does matter. However, is that the only criteria? No...but all things being equal, if you come out of Eastern Michigan and are competing for a spot vs a U of M student, you're gonna be at a disadvantage in most cases and I would bet 4/5 times you would lose your spot to that student.</p>
<p>In a sense, it really doesn't matter. It all depends on what you make of your education. Many believe a good school will automatically make you smart and provide an outstanding education, but in reality it is mostly done by you. I heard stories of people from Western Washington University (I don't know of anyone who hasn't gotten accepted) outperforming Stanford and Harvard students. While this is a very exclusive case, it just goes to show that its not where you go, but how much you make out of it. </p>
<p>To me, people go to a good school mostly because of prestige. </p>
<p>(I sound really harsh, but its not too exaggerated when you examine the roots of things)</p>
<p>definitely not, even at the most prestigious schools the % of students getting into a med school (meaning ANY in the country) is well below 100%.</p>
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Most grad schools admit about 10-20 students per year in each particular area, and many of these admitted students are foreign.
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<p>I think that's not necessarily true. I'm in one of the smallest departments here at Caltech (we don't even offer an undergrad minor) and my year we admitted around 20 domestic students. Four of us decided to come, the rest of the space (5-10 students) was filled by internationals. This year we admitted around 40 domestic students and maybe 8 decided to come here. So we have a couple fewer international grads this year.</p>
<p>When I visited UCSB (ranked #2 in my field) I think there were around 50 domestics for a slightly larger department, but I think of the people they admitted, they only expect around 10-15 to attend.</p>
<p>It matters a bit to employers, a lot to internships, but MOST OF ALL</p>
<p>it matters EVERYTHING TO YOURSELF.</p>
<p>Don't go to a college you won't be happy at. If you do it and hate your life for four years, where you went for undergrad matters more than most things in your life. Don't make a stupid decision, by trying to save a few pennies, or a bunch of other crazy reasons people often screw themselves when they go to a college they dont fit in at.</p>
<p>Some undergrad schools are famous for sending nearly all of their students to the job or grad school that is prestigious. However, that is not necessarily because that school is better, but because it admits a certain type of driven student, who would do well anywhere. Harvey Mudd for example, has really good job placements and grad school acceptances, but that is because of two things: because it is a great school, and because it is filled with a type of student. If you are a very smart and driven student, you might be in the 50% of your class at Harvard, or the 90% of your class at, say, Boston University. YOU are the same, by going to Harvard you are not thrown into a formula that calculates your percentage to do X or Y. I do know that people from the top percentages of any school in the country get into top grad schools, and while there are certain prestigious grad school feeder undergrad schools, the idea is to maximize your accomplishment in undergraduate. Being a podunk university star can be better than being a Berkeley bum or a Ivy statistic. Or it can be reverse.</p>