Not from an "Ivy" so are my chances of admission at a University of California Nil?

Graduate School
1

<p>I’m applying to University of California graduate programs at a three different campuses. I know that the UCs are competitive institutions. I have looked through the mini profiles of the grad students in the programs that I am interested in and they all seem to have earned their undergraduate degrees from UC campuses or other “big name” schools such as USC, NYU or Bryn Mawr.</p>

<p>Are the UC campuses (even though they are public universities) entrenched in their elitist ways and basically predetermined to only let in graduates from the Ivies or wannabe Ivies?</p>

<p>I also noticed that the programs were VERY Caucasian, with little diversity.</p>

<p>Despite my grades, extracurricular activities and recommendations, are my chances of getting into any of these UC campuses nil since I attended a Cal State University campus vs. a UC or “Ivy”?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Going to a non-Ivy/UC/prestigious school will not keep you out of those schools’ graduate programs. A good applicant is a good applicant, regardless of which school the applicant attended.</p>

3

<p>I don’t know your program specifics (some stereotypes are true to an extent, after all), but the campuses themselves are fairly diverse … and much more so than my current Ivy.</p>

4

<p>It might if your GPA is lower. Grad schools know how competitive undergrad schools are, and know what kind of competition you had in getting the grades you earned (Since many schools grade on a curve.) It also depends on the field you are trying to enter and how competitive it is. If your academic record is solid they you can definately be competitive. As said above, if you you have solid stats and a solid SOP then there is no reason why you shouldn’t have a shot.</p>

5

<p>GoHurdler: I’m currently an undergrad at a UC school and can assure you of the following:</p>

<p>1) there is much cultural, ethnic, sexual, religious - and, yes - political diversity on many of the UC campuses</p>

<p>2) I’m not sure which program you are applying to but many of the applicants come from various educational institutions: small LACs, ivies, UCs, other state schools, etc. </p>

<p>Here’s an encouraging item for you: Dr. Mendes, a social psychology professor, completed her undergraduate degree at Cal State Long Beach, completed her Ph.D. at UC Santa Barbara (a top school in her particular subfield), and is now a professor at Harvard.</p>

<p>Keep a positive outlook and apply. If your credentials are strong, I am confident you’ll be given a fair shot. Good luck!</p>

6

<p>You shouldn’t assume that the school made the person’s application for grad school. There was a good study that was put out by economists at Princeton in the early 90’s that concluded people of the same caliber upon matriculation to undergrad are successful regardless of school. If you worked as hard as the average applicant to big name school X, wherever you went to undergrad, you’ll be competitive.</p>

7

<p>You want to go to graduate school, right? You’ve got to look at all the angles of why these things are the way they are. I’m from a CSU myself, and I’m applying to all the UC campuses except for UC Merced. There’s just no faculty match there, and I guess I wouldn’t want to live there for 5-6 years either.</p>

<p>Anyways.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The reason why so many of these graduate students are from big name schools for undergrad: Not to say it’s a cause and effect thing, but students who went to undergrad at big name institutions probably worked really hard (not that you didn’t) since they were young, or at least through high school. Most kids that have had that motivation early have probably already set their goals at graduate education a long time ago. I wasn’t a motivated student in high school or early in my college career. I had a sub 2.00 GPA my first two years at a CSU, left for two years, and I’ve had a 3.99 for my last 2.5 years. Heck, I had no idea what graduate school was until the last 3 or so years. Not to generalize too much but, from my experience, a lot CSU students are there to get degrees and enter the job force. School is less expensive and it’s a means to an end, which is to get a well-paying job. Yes, there’s not as much competition, but there’s some of it in every department you’ll go to. Do the teachers dumb down their class? I’m not too sure. However, I’m extremely proud to have graduated from my CSU; I got the true college experience (not the getting drunk and partying kind, although I’ve done some of that early on) because my professors were there and took an interest in me when I decided to take responsibility for my own education and they’ve actually helped me grow as a person and scholar. I wouldn’t trade any of the mess ups early on for anything, because I’m happy at the end result, and I don’t think I could have gotten to where I am without them. Will I get into any of the UC schools? I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.</p></li>
<li><p>Diversity: Yes, there is something true to what you said. If you look at a lot of the UC campuses, a lot of minorities forgo graduate education (at least Ph.D.s). That could be because they’re going into professional fields and getting other degrees (working and then getting a MBA or getting a M.D.) As minorities, who are more often lower in socioeconomic status, they might not see the Ph.D. as practical in terms of time and money. For example, the time and money to get a degree in pharmacy is going to seem like a much better investment than getting a Ph.D. in a biology/chem-related field. Looking at UC Berkeley’s statistics: there are approx. 9,307 Asian/Asian-American undergrads but only 1,391 graduate students. In contrast, there are approx. 7,755 White undergrads but 4,505 graduate students. There’s something that happens there, but I don’t quite think it’s discrimination, especially at a UC. As an Asian-American myself, the number of Asian students at UCs is disproportionate to the actual population (even in California; I don’t use the 4% national percentage because we’re mostly on the West Coast, Texas, and some East Coast areas anyways). Yes, there are some disparities for other ethnic groups, but that’s a whole other topic.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Other factors: Your letter of rec. writers are probably not going to be eminent like those at Ivys or UCs. Oh well. However, there’s less research being done at a CSU, so the initiative you took to get research experience is going to show…well…initiative. Just because Ivys and UCs have famous faculty doesn’t mean they’re great teachers. At a CSU, I was almost taught only by Ph.D.s. My friend at UC Davis said that in his first year he had nothing but graduate teaching assistants teach his classes, and he hated that. Sure, there were a few lecturers with masters or some Psy.D.'s, but there were pretty good too, imo. Undergrad was not as cutthroat as an Ivy, but if you got a bunch of A’s, that’s not going to look too bad regardless of who you were up against.</p>

<p>Trust me, I feel the same way at times. Coming from a less prestigious school, you even question if you’re at the same caliber as someone from a Ivy or UC (despite a near 4.00 run), and it’s easy to consider yourself the underdog. However, I don’t think it’s social forces that are necessarily keeping you down. You’ve just got to make the best case for yourself and take advantage of what little comes your way, and hopefully we’ll both get into graduate school. Sorry for the long response, but it’s something I’ve also ruminated on for quite some time myself. Best of luck.</p>