<p>From the looks of tis website, the undergrad selection for top schools is very competitive.</p>
<p>But, my mom went to Yale Grad School, and to be quite honest, I really don’t know how she got in. I mean, she hadn’t been to school in over 15 years, no job, and literally no extra-curricular activities (except maybe volunteering here and there). She had good grades in high school/college (both were little, public schools that no one has heard of), and she did well on the GRE or w/e its called. She did great in Yale though, graduated with great grades and whatnot, I’m just wondering how she got in if grad schools are just as competitive as undergrads. Thoughts?</p>
<p>Grad school is a completely different beast from undergrad. If you’re going to grad school(let’s assume a PhD program or similar), you want to do research. And, the university wants to gain money on your research. So, they are not looking for someone with an A+ average and a great GRE score. Their criteria is focused on your research ability and experience, for the most part. True, you have to have good grades and a decent GRE score to get into a decent school, but beyond this it’s all focused on what you have done so far in terms of research and what you plan to do in grad school.</p>
<p>As for your mother, she might have gone years ago to yale grad school when things were less competitive. And, she DID do well in Yale, and got a good GRE. I don’t know exactly what program your mom applied to, so I can’t provide more of an explanation.</p>
<p>A lot of it depends on the subject area, since you apply to a specific department in grad school instead of just the school in general. Some departments at some schools have extremely competitive admissions, letting in around 5%.</p>
<p>So to some degree, it’s hard to judge a graduate program based on the undergrad reputation of a school. I’d consider Berkeley’s undergrad CS program strong, but not among the best. On the graduate level though, I don’t think anyone would doubt that Berkeley has one of the very best CS programs. Yale’s graduate programs are (to my knowledge) very highly regarded in fields like political science and philosophy, but not necessarily all across the board.</p>
<p>Well, just looking at some statistics ([Yale</a> university) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Yale University - Wikipedia)%5DYale”>Yale University - Wikipedia)), Yale has more graduate students than undergrads. Couple that with the fact that more people do only a bachelors, it seems much easier to get into a graduate program.</p>
<p>Grad schools don’t care about ECs or community service or any of that. They care about your grades, your GRE score and your research experience IF you are applying directly from undergrad. If you work for a number of years before applying to grad school, they are going to look at a number of other things. Why are you applying to go to grad school now? What experience have you had that brings you to this place? What are your professional goals? You get the idea. Apparently your mom was able to articulate her goals and objectives in a way that satisfied the people that were make the decisions. Also, once you get to grad schools, grades are not much of an issue. Most students will get excellent grades. By that point, professors figure you are mature enough to learn what you need to learn without grades as motivators.</p>