<p>Hi.</p>
<p>I am a senior in high school deciding what college I should go to.
I hope to go to a very good grad school. In order to do so, what college should I pick?</p>
<p>Should I go to a school where I can get stellar education but my GPA isn’t guaranteed or a school that isn’t as prestigious but I can manage to get good grades?
Please help!</p>
<p>It all depends on what your definition of a “good” grad is. Are you talking Ivy League? Grad school is different from undergrad in that what could be considered a “GOOD” school might not have the best graduate program in a certain field, whereas a school that might not be considered the best overall might have a really good graduate program in a certain area. I honestly don’t think that the school where you do your undergrad has that much bearing as long as you excel wherever you’re at. Also, make sure that you’re not a one-trick pony; having good grades is always great but if you can’t show that you’ve spent your extra time in other worthwhile activities, then it will become more difficult for you to gain admittance to a top-notch grad school. Plenty of people have good grades and good GRE scores. Your extracurricular activities plus a strong Statement of Purpose and excellent Letters of Recommendation are the things that will set you apart.</p>
<p>Wow thanks for your input.
A ton of people told me all I need is good GPA and research and good GRE and good rec letter.</p>
<p>I guess I’d have to do volunteering community service and club activities too? Just like highshool all over again?</p>
<p>
Unless it’s directly relevant to your field (e.g. volunteering at a church and applying to MDiv programs), graduate programs don’t care in the slightest about your extracurriculars.</p>
<p>As long as your GPA is within range (3.0-3.3 overall, 3.5+ for your major), I think the importance of GPA is vastly overstated. Factors like fit, research experience, statement of purpose, writing sample, language background, etc. seem to be far more important.</p>
<p>warblersrule86, I think you’re spot on.</p>
<p>I worried endlessly about my mediocre (3.08) GPA from an unprestigious Western state flagship when I was doing my applications. But it seems like the rest of my package was compelling, because I’ve got five admits so far and zero rejections out of eight applications.</p>
<p>Making early connections with professors who share your research interests and crafting a strong statement of purpose can create a situation where a faculty member specifically advocates for your application. If that happens, you’re pretty much guaranteed admission.</p>
<p>One thing I would say is crucial is finishing strong. Don’t coast through your senior year - gradcoms will not look kindly on late-career slacking.</p>
<p>I worried about this same question before picking a college.</p>
<p>I ended up picking a second-tier school out of a little bit of fear, and today I go to top-ranked graduate school.</p>
<p>In hindsight, I think it doesn’t matter. Go where you will be happiest and most successful. Those will carry you further in life than a slightly inflated GPA.</p>
<p>(My two cents.)</p>
<p>Go to the worst decent school (if that makes any sense) so that you would have a good GPA and good research opportunities, while grades are somewhat easier. That is what I did, but it wasn’t by choice. lol</p>
<p>Go to whatever decent undergrad is cheapest/will give you good financial aid. If you’re getting a PhD, no sense having all kinds of student loans.</p>
<p>Extracurriculars mean nothing, with exceptions in fields such as medicine (med school only), social work, and perhaps public policy. You should pursue activities in college because they are fun and because you can develop a group of friends with similar interests. But they won’t have any impact on grad school.</p>
<p>Grades have greater impact, but not as much as they did to get into undergraduate. Most students who get into a top notch graduate program have GPAs in the 3.5 - 4.0 range, but there are also students who have GPAs closer to 3.0. Choosing an undergraduate school with grade inflation and less demanding courses with the idea of boosting your GPA will not help. But even students who fail a course in college, provided that it’s early enough in the undergraduate career and/or unrelated to the graduate field, can get into a top graduate program. Still, you shouldn’t slack off because, especially if you’re in the sciences, you’ll want high enough grades to get into summer research programs. Besides, professors like students who work hard and who are passionate about the field.</p>
<p>Here’s what matters most: research experience and developing close working relationships with professors. You should choose the undergraduate college that will most likely offer you research opportunities (labs, honors theses, independent studies) with professors. If you happen to work with a professor who is well known in his field and if you do well with him/her, then you’ll have an edge when you apply to graduate school.</p>
<p>Most of all, you should choose the undergraduate institution that you like best because if you don’t enjoy where you are, you won’t do well.</p>
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<p>Yes. Your education is a valuable asset. You haven’t even begun college yet so you don’t really know what you will want to do four years from now. Choose a college where you feel both comfortable (“fit”) and which offers a rigorous education. If you don’t get into a top university, you can still get into a good grad program, but if you DO get into a top university, don’t underestimate the impact it can have.</p>
<p>My own experience matches Eisenmann’s. You want to have access to a serious curriculum and research opportunities, but being at the top of the pack is invaluable for so many reasons, not least when it comes to letters of recommendation. </p>
<p>A bit about me: I am a Bryn Mawr student who’s been part-time enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. I am arguably the most committed student in my major at Bryn Mawr, but merely average compared to graduate school-bound undergraduates at Penn. Nonetheless, I have been accepted to more “prestigious” programs than any of the undergraduates at Penn. I assume that’s because I got really outstanding letters from faculty at Bryn Mawr while the Penn undergraduates had to do with “he’s good but nothing special compared to our other grad school-bound seniors.”</p>
<p>It really does not matter where you go to undergrad. I went to an Ivy for grad school. Of my program of 10, one other went to an Ivy. The rest, random state and private schools. </p>
<p>My dad (has a PhD) would joke that the only school that matters is the one where you finish. So go somewhere cheap (seriously, go somewhere that gives you a scholarship), interesting and where you can succeed. This might be state. This might be a private school. Just remember your goal: so befriend professors for killer references, write a BA/BS thesis for your writing sample, do research if you are a science person or intern in your field for your CV and study.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your inputs.
But I still have a few more questions:
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>The statement of purpose is your grad school admission essay. But it bears little resemblance to an undergrad admissions essay.</p>
<p>In an SoP, you lay out your reasons for pursuing graduate studies. You lay out your research interests, detail your qualifications and academic preparation, explain why the school is the proper fit for your interests and discuss what you plan to do with the degree.</p>
<p>dhs:</p>
<p>1) Statement of purpose is your admissions essay. It should be straightforward, not creative.</p>
<p>2) Good question. Although top schools have more people chasing after research opportunities, the top schools (I believe) often have more opportunities and also more structured opportunities.</p>
<p>DHS,</p>
<p>Agree 100% with baked_potato. Where you finish is most important. I wouldn’t strategically try to aim for the middle when picking undergrad, but what many are saying is the prestige/reputation of your undergrad school is not as heavily weighted in your grad school application package as SoP, Rec Letters, even grades.</p>
<p>I would disagree with most replies in this thread. Where you go to undergrad DOES matter. While a school may not say “X went to A, they are more qualified then Y who attended B”, your undergraduate experience plays a huge role in your application. Which classes did you take? What kind of research did you do? My school provided many classes in my field, and the opportunity to do research. Not all schools offer that privilege. Furthermore, the environment will shape you. A deeply intellectual environment shapes good thinkers; at every single one of my interview weekends, more than one professor has mentioned how great the students whom have come from my undergraduate school have done at their graduate schools. Look at the pool of students at your interview weekend: Small, prestigious schools are over-represented. I have met far more people who attended top 20 schools than have not. Not all schools will build an attractive scientist. It isn’t about your GPA, it is about showing you have developed into a scientist. This is academia we are talking about. Most of these people truely believe in learning for the love of learning, and they want to see that you feel the same, and that means going to college to learn, not to paint a better graduate application.</p>
<p>Wow. Thanks for all the input!</p>
<p>I guess if I get into Top schools like MIT, Cornell, or Cooper Union, I’ll enroll in those, but If i get into Carnegie Mellon, UT Austin, or U Mich, I’ll just pick whichever one gives me most money.
I probably won’t go to a bad, (safety) schools.</p>
<p>I have a pretty solid idea of what I want to do. So, I’ll research into that area.
I’ll try to befriend the professors in that major as soon as i can, sharing my interests.</p>
<p>I think undergrad matters somewhat, esp. if you’re already at a top program for undergrad in the field you want to pursue (and this really only applies to PhD programs, and to MDs to a lesser degree). If you have good recommendations from top professors in your field for your grad school apps, that’s a definite bump compared to recs from professors no one’s ever heard of. </p>
<p>Also, the available resources at school vary extremely widely. I’m a student at an Ivy, and the resources I have here on campus in terms of archives, etc. (not to mention in terms of travel grants, etc.) are enormous compared to what my friends studying similar things at my home state’s flagship have. It’s simply been much easier for me to do “interesting” or “important” research here. </p>
<p>So actually, while the “name” of your undergrad school may not make a huge difference, the professors and resources at more prestigious schools can actually provide a pretty big advantage.</p>
<p>IAmBiophysics, your undergraduate <em>experience</em> plays a huge role in your application, but that doesn’t mean that where you go to undergrad matters in the sense that a degree from Harvard is objectively better than a degree from Georgia State. Some schools do get better reputations within the admissions process because of the faculty working there - i.e., Harvard is good not because it’s HARVARD but because X applicant worked with Dan Schacter, who is famous in my fiend. Some schools also have good reputations because of students they have already admitted - but that doesn’t necessarily go along with mainstream name recognition. For example, my college is a mid-tier liberal arts college but I’ve gotten comments on how well students from my college have done in the program. Not the most prestigious college in the world, but the adcom was <em>familiar</em> with it. So where you go to undergrad is important in 1) the resources that are available to you and 2) how familiar the school is to the admitting faculty.</p>
<p>Yes, it is academia, but in academia prestige works a little differently than in industry. For example, Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan have two of the best psychology departments in the country - even better regarded than the Ivy-League psychology department I’m in now. My adcom would welcome an application from there. Most of the students in my department went to smaller undergrads, and you can’t tell a difference in quality from the way they talk about research or what not who went to Harvard and who went to GSU. Academics know that many more factors go into shaping a researcher than a name.</p>
<p>I also would not agree that small prestigious schools are overrepresented. I go to an Ivy League university, and I know far more people who went to no-name/mid-tier/underrated undergrads or state universities than I know who went to other Ivies or top 20 schools.</p>
<p>I say go to the best school that you are admitted to and can afford. I think that undergrad is important but only to the extent that your undergrad has an influence on who you become and what you choose to do - what kinds of research opportunities, internships, and professors are there to shepherd you along the way. But it’s not the <em>name</em> that’s important, it’s the experience and environment that you’re in. And perhaps the experience that nurtures you to become a great researcher is a small liberal arts college in the Midwest and not Harvard.</p>