Will my college ranking affect my chances of getting into grad school?

Graduate School
1

This is really early because I’m a sophomore in college as of now, but I was wondering if my undergraduate school would affect my chances of placing into a top ranked grad school. I’m an accounting major with an intended double major in finance, and I eventually want to earn my PhD in accounting and teach. I should also mention that I’m a student at IUP, but I’m not a part of their Honors College program because it would conflict with me graduating on time.

So I guess my question is that will my school’s reputation affect my chances? According to Forbes, IUP’s ranking is 633 overall. Like I mentioned, it’s early and everything, but does a high GRE score, good LOR, and involvement in honor societies, etc. kind of make up for my undergrad’s reputation? Just wanted to know because this has been worrying me. Thanks.

2

The school you attend is much less important than your academic record, GRE scores and research experience.

3

D attended Duke for graduate school, after attending an undergrad school that most people outside the region would never have heard of, and that certainly wasn’t nationally ranked in the sciences. In fact, he was the only Chem major his year! Work hard at your classes, search out opportunities for research/internships, and don’t worry about things that aren’t important.

4

I currently teach at an university that is low-ranked and low-regarded enough that it, as far as I can tell, has never had a “chance-me” thread on CC. We get our graduates into the same high-level graduate programs as the really-high-tier university I worked at some years ago—we just get a lower proportion of our graduates into those programs. I really don’t think that’s because the grad programs are swayed by the name of the undergrad institution, though, but rather that the higher-ranked undergrad school has a higher proportion of students who are natural high achievers.

Or, in other words, whether you get into a top-flight graduate program* depends on you and your performance, not the institution where you had that performance.

  • For what are sometimes called "academic" graduate programs. For the professions—medicine, law, business, and such—it may or may not be a different story, I don't know.