<p>One clarification on BrownParent’s and Professor X’s excellent comments: while it helps to come from a top university, don’t despair if you can’t get into one out of high school. Graduate programs look at students who have had more of a chance to mature – and they don’t care about extracurricular activities and leadership potential. But the fact remains that the top universities already have most of the top students in their ranks, so when you apply to graduate school, you are competing against not just superior preparation but also against students who are ambitious, highly intelligent, and naturally inclined to tackle tough intellectual problems. At a lesser school, you must be a star, with carefully structured preparation, to be on the same level as the applicants from top universities. It can be done because I’ve seen it done. You don’t have to work harder than a top university undergraduate – the ones who get into top graduate programs work very hard at those schools – but you will probably have to work much harder than your peers at a lesser school. Getting excellent grades is not enough. You have to have time in your schedule for research. You may even have to push your professors instead of the other way around. (This is also true at LACs. My D attended a top LAC, and her biggest mistake was worrying about hurting her advisor’s feelings and therefore not switching to a better lab. You cannot afford to be passive or accommodating when it affects your future.)</p>
<p>Short answer: it can be done, but you face tougher odds.</p>