So, here’s a scenario I’ve been thinking about: My daughter may want to go to a ‘prestigious’ school that we simply can’t afford. If she plans to go to grad school to follow up her BS in an engineering field, I would like to know where the current grad students in her potential program (at her target school) are coming from to make sure she will have a chance. I would rather spend the money on grad school if she’s going to go.
Also, would they take into account the fact that they accepted her for undergrad, but she did not attend? Or would that be a strike against?
graduate and undergraduate admissions are handled by entirely different offices.
So dont worry if she declines an offer of admission to the UG college.
Is she thinking Masters in Engineering or PhD? If Masters she
would be wise to go the UG school that you can afford and where she can shine.
Engineering is a tough major and she will have lots of competition from very smart students at colleges like Stanford.
She is thinking Masters at this point. My question to graduate admissions would be: “What schools did the kids you are admitting go to??” Will they answer that? Obviously most/many went to the same school UG, but for those who when to a different school for UG, which ones? Then maybe I can target those as potential UG schools where maybe they are cheaper or she can receive merit aid. This is all hypothetical at this point.
@menloparkmom Hmm. Maybe I’m wrong. I just assume that a good number of graduate students at a university went there for undergraduate as well. That’s not really pertinent to my question, so obviously I’m not communicating as well as I hope my daughter does. It doesn’t matter what the school is, I was just wondering if grad programs disclose where their students came from. Let’s say it’s Cornell. Or UMich. Or UIUC.
“I just assume that a good number of graduate students at a university went there for undergraduate as well”
That’s not a realistic assumption.
usually the only way to find out is look at the bios of current graduate students.
some UG and graduate colleges will publish general info about where their graduates have been accepted or come from-especially MBA programs, Law Schools and Medical schools.
You can ask the question to the grad admissions office, but frankly, I don’t think you’ll get a meaningful answer, simply because the school doesn’t have the data you ask for in one place.
Except for the “5th Year M.S. Program” at some schools, available ONLY to the undergrads of the same school, this is not the case, at least not “obvious.” In fact, the common belief (not necessarily true in all cases) is that one should not get undergrad and grad degrees from the same school.
I think you are thinking too far ahead. There are many changes in 4 years: changing majors, going to work (for a few years) vs continuing to grad school (immediately after BS/BA),…
At this point, I think the focus should be sending her to the school that fits her the most. If she’s thinking of Ph.D. program, give more weight to a school with better research opportunities.
Thanks all. I’m definitely overthinking. If the info was readily available, I’d find it interesting. Didn’t mean to get off-track with the UG->grad school comment. I myself went to a different grad school after my undergrad degree.
If she goes for a graduate degree in engineering, it should be paid for by the school. Even for master’s degrees there are schools that will pay for an engineering masters. Engineering PhDs are always paid for. Schools take kids from all over for grad degrees. A student can make connections with professors which could help, but I wouldn’t pick a specific undergrad hoping to go to a specific grad school.
@2muchquan
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just assume that a good number of graduate students at a university went there for undergraduate as well.
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That is a bad assumption. Undergrads are encouraged to apply to OTHER schools for grad school so that they will be exposed to different profs, different expertise, different research. That’s why you’ll often see a someone with degrees from 2-3 schools.
I don’t understand the question. Perhaps rewording it is better. Let’s say for UCB, it lists on it’s graduate survey for each major what schools it’s graduates are attending for graduate schools. Only a small percentage is admitted to graduate school or want to continue to graduate school. Is that the question?
That’s not really a thing for UG to terminal Master’s program. For UG to PhD or Masters to PhD though yes.
For Michigan (which is fairly well received for any engineering field) a very large (though not majority, if I had to take a guess I’d guess a third but I could be way off) went to Michigan UG, but for those who went elsewhere, they came from all sorts of schools, some very prestigious, some not prestigious at all. And many from overseas. It seems like, at least at Michigan, where you went for UG, to get into a Masters in engineering, doesn’t matter at all.
@DrGoogle I think it’s the other way around. I want to know where all the master’s engineering students went for UG. 1) I think it’s interesting, 2) it would give me more ideas of schools to look at, 3) I need to overthink something nearly every day.
@mom2collegekids Yup, doesn’t surprise me. I’m full of bad assumptions.
It’s easier if you name the school, but honestly I haven’t seen graduates from the top 100 colleges with good GPA are kept out of top graduate schools like MIT and Stanford. In fact it’s really easy to get MS degree in engineering from Stanford. It’s a cash cow for Stanford.
want to know where all the master's engineering students went for UG.
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It’s going to surprise you. The students will have come from a variety of top schools, mid levels and even some schools that you’ve never heard of.
One of my son’s engineering classmates is now at Stanford getting a PhD in eng’g. They went to a mid-tier flagship.
Engineering isn’t some specialty that only a few schools are able to have strong programs.
The nice thing about engineering is that there are SO MANY very good programs in the US.
This country and each state has a vested interest in having several schools in virtually every state that have quality ABET-accredited eng’g programs.
The simple truth is that this country has such a high need for high-tech engineers that we can’t depend on only a handful of schools to produce them. Heck, the state of Calif alone has over 25 schools with very good eng’g programs.
Virtually any established good school, particularly state schools, will have very good eng’g programs. They have to.
there would be no strike against her for grad school if she turned down the undergrad.
Grad school admissions aren’t thru the undergrad admissions office. The particular depts are the ones who accept their grad students. Admissions is often not involved at all or only minimally…certainly not in decisions.
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My daughter may want to go to a 'prestigious' school that we simply can't afford. If she plans to go to grad school to follow up her BS in an engineering field, I would like to know where the current grad students in her potential program (at her target school) are coming from to make sure she will have a chance. I would rather spend the money on grad school if she's going to go
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Where do you want your DD to go to college? What schools do you want her to consider?
Virtually any good school with a good eng’g dept is good enough for any grad school. My kids’ undergrad, a mid-tier flagship, sends kids everywhere for grad school.
Grad schools care about courses taken, GPA, GRE scores, LORs, research, related ECs, other experiences, etc.
