<p>Does the undergraduate school affect the graduate school placement? </p>
<p>What are the key things to focus to get into a very good graduate school from ok-ish undergraduate university</p>
<p>I can only speak for medical school, since I’m a physician. In general, where you do your undergraduate studies does not really have that much bearing on getting into medical school. The key factors to getting into medical school or a strong GPA and a high MCAT score. I really can’t comment much on other disciplines such as business, law, engineering, et cetera.</p>
<p>Graduate admission issues are highly field dependent. In the sciences, research experience counts far more than GPA/GRE. You should focus on the exact same things you would be doing at a “better” school:grades, and relevant experience in your field of interest, the more the better.</p>
<p>Another, very important note: grad programs do not seem to like to admit students from their own undergrad program. So if you are looking to go to MIT for grad school, for example, you are better off doing your undergrad at another school.</p>
<p>Yes, but more indirectly than directly. I’m going to use my field (psychology) as an example.</p>
<p>All other things being equal, there is probably a slight bias for a psych undergrad coming from Michigan or Stanford (both top psychology departments) than one coming from, let’s say Augusta State. But that’s because grad admissions committees are familiar with the Michigan/Stanford departments; they probably know some of their scholar friends teaching there, know that important discoveries have come from people there, know that the professors are teaching strong classes and that students will ultimately enter their grad program with a solid undergraduate education in psychology. They may even know some of the professors at Michigan or Stanford personally, and are able to get a personal lowdown on the student in question. This is unlikely to be the case at Augusta State.</p>
<p>There are more indirect effects, though.</p>
<p>-Michigan’s professors will spend more time on research. Therefore, they will need more undergraduate RAs than Augusta State’s professors will, which means more research opportunities for the undergrads there. The opportunities are also likely to be more intensive, involving more cutting-edge work.
-Michigan probably offers a better selection of psychology classes than Augusta State, at a higher level.
-Michigan has better libraries than Augusta State, with more subscriptions to more journals and databases. This may increase the quality of the undergrads’ research papers and experiences.
-Michigan has students who are generally more driven and ambitious than Augusta State’s students. They may have come to undergrad knowing they want to go to grad school or run an investment bank or something of that nature. Maybe they have background knowledge, or they are more driven to study and read before class and understand more of the material at a deeper level. This leads to more stimulating in-class discussions for our undergrad, which may lead to them thinking about deeper research programs, which makes them appear to be more thoughtful and polished when they talk about their research interests.
-Michigan’s professors have advised dozens, maybe even hundreds, of doctoral students each. They know what a good and what a bad psychology PhD student looks like before they enter the program and they can help guide their undergrads to look more like a good one. The Augusta State professor probably doesn’t have any PhD students, and probably never has. Their only guide is going to be memories of grad school themselves.
-Similarly, Michigan professors admit doctoral students and they know what makes for an attractive candidate.
-Probably very importantly, Michigan’s professors will expect many of their undergrads to go onto grad school. Augusta State’s professors won’t. That’s going to change how they act towards their students and the kinds of help and feedback they provide.
-The resources for applying to grad school are probably greater at Michigan. Their career services office may be better equipped to help you - maybe they have sample personal statements at the office, or have prepared broadsheets on applying. </p>
<p>The good news, though, is that great students get into top programs from EVERYWHERE. I’m in a top 5/top 15 program in my field (two departments), and I came from a top 100 liberal arts school but not one in the top 50. There are people here from colleges I’ve never heard of, as well as people from places like Brown and Penn State and Yale and Amherst. If you do well, get research experience, and take advantage of other opportunities that may or may not be at your school (summer REUs at other universities; internships; research at a nearby R1; etc.) you can definitely get into a top program.</p>
<p>That’s funny that raneck used MIT as an example - I definitely know that at least some programs at MIT are super incestuous and have a much higher than expected number of their undergrads enroll in their graduate programs. The vast majority of schools, especially in the sciences, tend to want you to go elsewhere to expand your networks and pedagogical base. But a minority of schools and programs do recruit internally.</p>