Does where you get your undergrad matter?

menloparkmom
Sat, 23 Apr 2011 13:40:10 +0000

my son is graduating next month from USC[ southern calif] with a BS on Geology and and a minor in Physics and will be going to Cal Tech for his PHD in Geophysics.
The advantages of going to a big U are that is probably has a larger Geology Dept, and more opportunities to do research with profs, and thus get LOR’s from them for Grad school applications.Your GPA, GRE scores and LOR’s are more important than the UG college name, HOWEVER, Geology is a relatively small field[ especially if you exclude Petroleum studies] so going to a more well known University with a more larger Geology program can’t hurt you and will probably help you get into grad schools.
What about Colorado School of mines? Or University of Washington? Or even USC- they take about 1000 transfer students each year.
And yes, many more well known Geology programs are in the west.