<p>First off: I’m worried about grad school. I’m currently a first-year at Alverno, a small, Catholic women’s college in Milwaukee. As I assume no one on this site has heard of it (it lacks any sense of prestige), I’ll give a brief rundown:</p>
<p>It’s untraditional (re: "alternative). Many students are mothers, full-time workers, or older, non-traditional students. Our philosophy is one that schools around the country are mirroring, in one way or another, and I can say I am proud to call Alverno my home.</p>
<p>The problem: My school has no grades. Will this prove an issue in admissions to grad school? I’m looking at extremely competitive business schools (Kellogg, Stanford, HBS) and don’t know how I’ll stack up. Maybe it’s too early to be thinking this far ahead, but I’m just so worried that senior year’ll roll around and I’ll be stuck with nowhere to go. </p>
<p>I’m a strong student and I know my professors will give me wonderful recommendations - many have already told me so - but how will a lack of grades be viewed? Profs do give a thorough review of the student, of which most will be to my benefit. Still, is this going to present an issue?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I have a feeling they will convert the assessment they use into a GPA when you apply for graduate school. However, it’s better you ask an academic advisor at your school how they handle people applying to graduate school.</p>
<p>Honestly, even though undergrad school matters much less than your personal achievements and letters of rec, I would recommend transferring if you can. In general, it seems that your undergrad’s prestige doesn’t matter too much, as long as ad coms have heard of it and it doesn’t have a specifically bad reputation. To go along with that, the prestige of the people who write you letters matters at least a little, and can probably really help if the writer is well-known.</p>
<p>If you’re set on going to a top program in any field, it is best to do everything you can to stand out. Going to a school that no one has heard of that doesn’t have grades, and having letters, even glowing letters, from faculty that no one has heard of, are not going to help you. What kinds of internships or research experience are you going to be able to get there? </p>
<p>It sounds like Alverno is a pretty good school for a small LAC, but I think it might be a liability for your application to top business schools. Then again, I’m not that familiar with how graduate programs view small LACs in general, so there’s a chance I’m being too pessimistic.</p>
<p>It’s true that practically no one here on CC has heard of Alverno College, but that’s no reason to feel like you go to a second-rate school. Most people here focus (obsess?) on just the top 100 schools or so out of the 3,000 in the U.S.</p>
<p>Alverno College is a well-respected, fully-accredited college that serves a rather unique market. It’s even ranked as a Tier 1 school in the University-Master’s/Midwest category by USN&WR (for those who care about such things).</p>
<p>Since your school has been around for over 100 years, certainly some of its graduates must have gone on to graduate school. Go to Alverno’s Career Education Center and talk to one of the counselors there about your graduate school plans. Ask them for some data on how many graduates go to grad school and what schools they have applied to. Ask them how they handle the “no grades” issue. I’m sure they will be quite helpful and can answer your questions. Then you can stop worrying and go back to focusing on your studies. Do your very best in every class and continue to nurture those close relationships with your professors. Also try to get some business-related work experience. Those things will make you competitive for admission to top graduate schools.</p>
<p>UC Santa Cruz used to not give grades, only narrative evaluations (they started giving grades around 2001). The registrar used to have a sub-office who ‘translated’ evals into grades for graduate/professional schools. It worked for them for almost 35 years and lots of UCSC grads got into post-BS programs. </p>
<p>Your school should also have someone who can translate your grades, check with an academic advisor or the registrar. If your school is over 100 years old, as worried_mom indicates, then other graduates must have run into the same problem.</p>