What would a selective grad school be looking for in someone who is applying to them from a less selective undergraduate program?
You need to provide more information for anybody to be able to help you out.
- Which school are you currently enrolled at?
- What is your current major? Focus area(s) (if any)?
- How are you doing academically at your current school?
- What are some meaningful experiences you have had while in college? Internships? Research?
- What do you want to go to graduate school for? Engineering, business, etc.?
I’m not in college yet I just wanna know what I should be shooting for since I can’t really get into any selective schools right now
Then how about what are your career goals?
Well I’m not completely sure. As far as my goals the only thing I can definitely say I want is a lot of money lol. Other than that the majors I’m considering are either physics or a double major in economics and psychology.
Btw I’m a junior in High school
If you want to have job security and are better at quantitative reasoning, then try engineering. You should go to a good school, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be like MIT
Yeah I know but I just wanna see what it would take to go to a good school like that from a less selective school like say, Syracuse or Villanova are both schools I’m looking at.
You will generally have a better chance at a more selective graduate school from a more selective undergrad program, but there are plenty of people who go to top grad schools with good grades, good GRE scores, and good recommendations from less selective schools. Sometimes you will stand out more in a less selective undergrad program,
That’s what I’m hoping for so I wanna know what in particular I should shoot for besides “really good grades”
Be active on campus. Do research. Establish relationships with professors. Get good internships. Do something unique.
I heard that TCNJ is good at getting you to a good grad school but I’m not sure
TCNJ is probably one of the most respected institutions as far as top grad schools are concerned , but you need to
get top grades, be in the top 5-10% and active in the TCNJ community. That means make the most of attending a great school like TCNJ and being a stand out student will go further than say a average student from IVY.
I mean UNDERGRADUATE school.
Hi I will be attending Purdue university this fall, so my question would be “is Purdue a selective eng school”? I know it places well in ranking, I’m not sure about the admissions standards though, it’s a weed out school but I’m pretty positive I won’t fall out. I plan on majoring in mech eng, and move on to the same major in grad school at a top college (MIT Stanford or even Purdue), and info would be much appreciated. I’m still on the fence btw PhD, so any tips on that would be great as well, thank you. @TooOld4School @stones3 @umcoe16
I just tagged yall so that you guys see the message, sorry for the inconvenience.
You will have absolutely no issues applying to a great grad school from Purdue. Purdue is very research oriented and I encourage you to get involved as early as possible. That way you will know a few professors well enough to get great recommendations, and you can see if it is something you want to pursue. You might change your mind about which area you want to specialize in … fortunately, Purdue is very good at most of them.
@skyblade1234 yes Purdue is a great engineering school. If you do well academically there, then you should be able to get into a great grad program. I assume you are going to become a freshman, so your decision regarding whether or not you will be doing grad school can change. Doing a master’s is definitely great, I’m not sure if PhD will be significantly beneficial unless you are planning to go into academia.
A good number of top engineering programs do offer a special (and easy) way for you to get into their master’s program if you were an undergrad at that institution, and you meet a certain academic standard. At umich, this is called SUGS for Sequential Undergraduate/Graduate Studies. You can take advantage of being able to double count a certain number of credits between your undergraduate and graduate degrees, and transfer credits not used for your undergraduate degree to your graduate degree. This makes it easier for you to complete the master’s degree in two semesters. The disadvantage, however, is that they may give you least consideration for funding opportunities. For PhD programs in engineering at umich, every student is guaranteed funding for five years, contingent upon satisfactory academic progress.
@TooOld4School Thank You for your input! @umcoe16 I am aware of the SUGS, and I believe it is there for Purdue as well, i’ll have to check up on that. Im an international by the way, hence the queries. But I was also looking at other top universities such as MIT, Stanford, of course this is contingent on my academic success, and youre right, as a freshman, i may have a change of mind, but I know that I want to have a masters degree at the least so that I have good job oppurtunities anywhere I go. As for Phd, im still on the fence about it, Im not sure whether itll be advantageous in getting a good job placement, and I certainly do not want to be a teacher/professor, but if it helps me land in a good place why not? Of course this is too early to decide so thank you for your inputs
@skyblade1234 if you get to senior year (of college) and are still not sure, then you should probably go for a master’s. If you decide to pursue a PhD after getting your master’s, no problem. However, if you go directly into a PhD program and then decide that you do not wish to continue after your master’s, dropping out of the PhD program may not reflect positively on you.