<p>I am currently making a decision for my undergraduate school, but have a few questions to clear up in terms of grad school I am a life science major going into pre-health, so I will be applying to pharmacy grad school.</p>
<p>-Are there known feeder schools for grad schools, and does location play a part in admission? For example, will applying to UCSF for grad school as a UCLA undergrad vs. UCB or UCD undergrad affect my admissions? Or USC grad school as a UCD vs. UCLA undergrad?</p>
<p>-Are either of these statements true:
Grad schools prefer not to accept students (or as many) from their own undergraduate school.
Grad schools prefer not to accept a large pool of applicants from the same school.</p>
<p>-Lastly, although this question has been answered many times, does it really matter where you get your undergraduate degree as opposed to what you’ve done?</p>
<p>I would gladly appreciate any tips and answers. It may be a bit early, but I am currently trying to decide between UCD and UCLA for undergraduate school. Thanks!! :)</p>
<p>“Feeder” schools doesn’t really work for graduate school. Your graduate school admissions is based upon your own record of work in college, and not so much upon WHERE you went to college. The only exception is that some graduate programs don’t like to accept their own undergrads. It all depends on your individual qualifications for graduate school, especially when we start talking about people who take time off in between.</p>
<p>SOME graduate schools don’t like to accept applicants from their own undergrad divisions. The best way to find that out is to ask around, especially the professors who are in charge of admissions for that particular graduate program. I’ve seen many professors who have gotten all three degrees at the same place.</p>
<p>I don’t know about that third question, but I think in general admissions cares far more about what you’ve done then where you’ve come from. I always meet quite a few people here from my alma mater and our brother school (Spelman and Morehouse). Some schools get a good reputation for sending well-prepared students to the school - for the above example, my alma mater has a public health institute with a famous professor as the director, and a public health minor, and I’m at a school of public health, so it follows that we’re well represented here.</p>
<p>And the answer to your last question is no. What you’ve done matters far more than your undergrad degree. I’m not going to say that your undergrad degree doesn’t matter AT ALL - it may but not in the way you think. Like with the above, my alma mater isn’t in the top 100 but has a good reputation in health-related fields so we do really well in medical school admissions. Some schools with great classics departments may have great success in applications for classics PhDs, and so on. It has less to do with the overall ranking/reputation of your undergrad school and more to do with the adcoms perceptions of students that have come from your alma mater in recent years and what their work ethic has been like. If the last two students from UCD both dropped out of the program, then UCD’s applicants may be scrutinized more carefully/negatively than others.</p>
<p>But in general, what you do is Faaaaaaaaaaaar more important than where you come from in graduate school.</p>
<p>As a final note, if you’re a high school senior, select your university based upon where you feel the most comfortable and where you feel you’ll get the best education, as well as where you can afford. I’m glad that there are so many high school students who are thinking so far into the future - it’s great to be prepared - but honestly, at 18 you’ve got no idea what you’re actually going to be doing. Davis and Los Angeles are two of the best campuses in the UC system and you really can’t go wrong either way, as far as grad school prospects go, so you’re safe to make a decision based on more personal reasons.</p>
I am a life science major going into pre-health, so I will be applying to pharmacy grad school.</p>