<p>Does anyone know the percentage of Harvard undergrads who end up at the nation's top grad schools (Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Yale, Stanford, among others)?</p>
<p>I don't know what the percentages are, but it is not hard at all to get into a top grad school in math, science, or engineering from MIT. The grad schools are not GPA-focused, and they know that MIT is harder than the top ivies to get a high GPA. </p>
<h1>1) If you get a 4.3/5.0 in engineering in chem E or EECS, you automatically get into the master's program.</h1>
<h1>2) There is no taboo in engineering against going to the same grad school as undergrad, so MIT undergrads have an advantage in getting into PhD programs because they can get work in the group of an MIT prof and get a recommendation from that professor. Recs from MIT profs are more effective than ones from other schools in MIT admissions; the profs themselves may sit on the admissions committee after all.</h1>
<h1>3) My guess is that if you have a 4.3/5.0 from MIT and spend a summer doing research, you will get into at least a few of the top 5 programs in science (and maybe better than a few.) You've still got a shot with a 4.0/5.0.</h1>
<p>On this one, I agree with collegealum314. :) To expound on point #3, based on my observations of my friends and what I have heard from professors, if you get at least a B average (4.0/5.0 at MIT) and have strong research experience and recs, you will get in somewhere good.</p>
<p>One thing I must point out to you, OP...stop referring to HYPSM as "the nation's top grad schools". There is no such thing. What matters is the strength of the department. And the rankings in all subjects are not "HYPSM at the top, others below". If you're a chemical engineer, for instance, U of Minnesota is top 5, and much better than Harvard and Yale. If you're aero/astro, Purdue, UMich, and UIUC are ahead of any Ivy. If you're a creative writer (unlikely for an MIT prefrosh, but I've known a couple), Iowa State beats all of HYPSM.</p>
<p>The University of Iowa, not Iowa State, has the premier writing MFA program. I'm not certain any of "HYPSM" has a writing MFA program, although I'm pretty sure Brown, Penn, and Hopkins do. But, yes, Iowa is the gold standard there.</p>
<p>you should post this in the harvard forum. they'll know better</p>
<p>
[quote]
The University of Iowa, not Iowa State, has the premier writing MFA program.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Whoops, my stupid mistake. :) I always just hear it referred to as "Iowa", and guessed wrongly.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses! I was mostly curious about the GPA required to get into grad schools (graduating from MIT). In your opinion, is a 4.0/5.0 GPA hard to pull off at MIT? I understand that it depends on a big variety of factors, like major, work load, outside activities, etc., but could you generalize??</p>
<p>And by the way, I was in no way insinuating that HYPSM are the only good grad schools in this country. People often see those schools strung together and immediately react negatively because of the "elite" connotation we've all gotten used to, but I was definitely not inferring those are the only schools worth getting into for grad school. I listed them to give an example of the academic level I was talking about.</p>
<p>The top graduate school destinations of last year's graduating class (pg 6 of the graduating</a> student survey) were:
MIT (137 students)
Harvard (27 students)
Stanford (20 students)
UC Berkeley (13 students)
University of Michigan (9 students)</p>
<p>These are self-reported numbers and only about 2/3 of the class replied, so consider these low end estimates of the number of students who went on to these graduate schools.</p>
<p>
This is a below-average GPA at MIT -- the average GPA of seniors is about a 4.2. To some degree, if you're an MIT graduate, your GPA is completely irrelevant to your graduate school applications, and the important factors are your research experience and recommendations.</p>
<p>Of the students who applied to biology PhD programs from MIT my year, almost all of us ended up at Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, and UCSF. I don't know anyone who applied to these schools and didn't get into at least one (and most of us got into all of them).</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Generally speaking, going somewhere like MIT will open more graduate school doors than going somewhere with fewer opportunities.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Molly, I know from other threads that you are in the PhD program at Harvard. Can you try to maybe compare the MIT undergrad experience with the Harvard undergrad experience in terms of likelihood to be accepted by grad programs? Do you think one school prepares a student better for grad school better than the other? Obviously, both are big-name schools, but does one stand out more than the other when a grad school admission officer is flipping through your files? [I posted this in the "what can we tell you" so if you already answered there, that's fine.]</p>