What do Grad Schools look for?

kimisizer
Thu, 10 May 2012 18:29:46 +0000

I will be attending college next year but my ultimate academic goal is to get into a good grad school. Now I know that colleges look for everything in a student - grades, test scores, ECs, recommendations, etc. For grad schools, are these criteria basically the same? Because if so, I would like to begin ASAP.

Is there a higher focus on grades/objective data than ECs or service activities? I ask this because I will be a physics major and applying my time researching and participate in many clubs as well. But is it still important that I still seek leadership roles, try to beat everyone academically, etc? I want to do well in college, but would also like to enjoy it, which would be hard if all I focused on were good grades and ECs. If anyone has information regarding grad school applications, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!