<p>Is it possible to get into an i ivy league school coning from a school like ohio state or te catholic university of america? Dont bother asking for stats or anything because im only in high school.</p>
<p>Yes it’s possible.</p>
<p>Yes it’s possible, though (depending on the circumstances) the odds may be stacked against you.</p>
<p>Wait, how are the odds stacked against you?</p>
<p>
For example, professors in the top math programs like to swap their students for grad school. All of the American students who got admitted to Princeton, Stanford and MIT in my year had their undergraduate degree from a top 20 university. A prestigious undergraduate degree is not required to get into to a top math program; but students will have to work extra hard to excel with fewer resources and in a less competitive environment. (Don’t underestimate the impact of high-achieving peers.)</p>
<p>I am not saying that this is true across the board. But there are certainly circumstances where undergraduate affiliation has a notable impact on graduate admissions.</p>
<p>Going to a school with a strong reputation in your field helps a lot, partly because your letter-writers are well-known and will have often already recommended many successful candidates to the program. For instance, it’s no wonder that it is very common to see people from UCB computer science heading to the most competitive programs for PhD. In subjects like mathematics where performance in courses becomes even more essential in graduate admissions, I’d even wager that coming from a school whose standards of rigor are high will make the admissions people a lot less nervous reaching a positive admissions decision. In a field outside mathematics that involves labs, the best graduates of a school like MIT, just from hearing some of its alumni, seem to get a lot better access to opportunities to be part of cutting edge research, even if not as the leaders necessarily.</p>
<p>One should be on the lookout, though. There are definitely some very strong schools more willing to accept students from less well-known programs.</p>
<p>I’ve been working in a lab over the summer at uc berkeley and only one of the grad students (out of 5 total) went to a prestigious school (berkeley). The rest came from regular local universities from their home cities.</p>
<p>The one thing they all have in common is they all did at least 3 years of undergrad research.</p>
<p>Its entirely possible to get into an Ivy League graduate program from a non prestigious undergrad school.
I went to community college where I was more or less a C average student until my last few semesters there when I really focused. I then went to UCSD which as far as Asian history is concerned is not top tier I would say. And now I am going to Columbia University. </p>
<p>It really all depends on the field you want to get into and the research you can or prove that you can do. Another huge thing is letter of rec. In my case 2 of my 4 letters were from professors who studied at and knew people at Columbia. Although since for the MA program I believe the dean of admissions makes the decision not the professors so that’s arguable how much that helped. But it certainty didn’t hurt. </p>
<p>If you are in high school now, I’d say nothing is cast in stone. You really don’t need to make a move until your last two years as an undergrad. But in those 2 years I’d say try to do independent study classes with professors that may have connections, not only will it give you possible letters of rec, but also good advice on where to apply. Also contact professors at the place you want to go. Kiss some butt, tell them how you liked their books, and how you want to do similar research.
Another huge thing is statement of purpose, and your sample essay.
GRE scores I dont feel are very important, just try not to blow them. Some schools do have a minimum cut off, Berkley is one I believe, but for many schools the GRE only helps your application, if you score average, I don’t think it hurts it.</p>