<p>Also get great grades wherever you go for undergrad. Do some interships, participate in clubs, community service etc. An ofter overlooked area are sports. If you are good enough to play a sport for your university this gives a huge boost for both employment and grad schools as athletes who perform academically are very desirable. If you aren’t good enough for collegiate level do a club or intramural. Graduate schools look for well roundedness. Don’t underestimate the importance of this.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice, voiceofreason.</p>
<p>out of curiosity, why do the UCs frown upon it?</p>
<p>I guess they want you to have more life experiences dude. Staying in the same place doesn’t qualify.</p>
<p>For many fields, it’s a common attitude to advise undergraduates to move to a different department for grad study, they say in order to get a different perspective. This is common at many, many schools. Some fields and departments LOVE to take their own for longer, such as certain departments at MIT. It varies, but you can assume with no other knowledge that studying elsewhere would be beneficial (although obviously talk to people/profs/etc).</p>