<p>There is a Tell Me your Worst Rejection stories thread, in the hopes of a more optimistic message, tell us your best "It wasn’t my first choice but in the end I am so glad I ended up at …school because:</p>
<p>This is the story my dad told me: in 1984, he got accepted to WUSTL with a nice FA package so he went. First year there, the classes are soooo hard and his classmates are soooo smart, and he was soooo lazy so he ended up with a 1.5 GPA, ignominiously low for anyone much less a FOTB (fresh off the boat) Asian. So his dad made him transfer back to his state school (Penn State) where the classes were much easier, classmates not as bright (his own words), and he worked a little harder and graduated with a 3.65 GPA. He was accepted to Temple Med School and is now thankful he flunked out of his first choice WUSTL. So his advice to me: go to State school bottomofthepile-san, get higher GPA than going to Ivy or selective LACs, make easier for you get accepted to grad school.</p>
<p>Does my old man have a point???</p>
<p>Depends what kind of grad school. Works for med school but not for law or business school. Harder to say for masters or PhD programs, but not likely true there. Top grad schools in general, even med, skew to having more kids from top undergrads.</p>
<p>In my dad’s case a 3.65 GPA from Penn State is infinitely better than a 1.5 GPA from WUSTL (or even HPYSM for argument sake), no matter which type of grad school he was applying to.</p>
<p>Not to mention that the better MBA programs are very interested in your work experience. Top grades from Not-on-the-radar-U with an excellent GMAT experience, and three to five years of solid work experience can more than make up for not attending Big-name-U.</p>
<p>Not long ago there was a thread discussing law admission begun by a poster who’d done the research, and who had concluded that name was less important than GPA and LSAT scores. If I remember who posted it, I’ll put up the link here.</p>