Ivy League Grad School?

Question

I'm wondering how hard it is to get into Ivy League or other top tier universities, such as Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, etc. for graduate school. It would be in psychology or a related field. Now I know it depends on the program and I need to do well in my undergraduate and get research experience and all that, but I want to hear from anyone who has, or knows anyone who has, gone into grad school at a top university, coming from a 'not so prestigious' university. The real "ins and outs" of the whole thing, not just admissions data. Thanks.

Answer 1

I've done it. Although I started my undergrad degree at UCLA, I dropped out twice and ended up doing most of my coursework and graduating from Cal Poly Pomona, which is an okay state university, but nothing special. I then got a master's back at UCLA (that was probably the hardest to overcome - the stigma of having been on academic probation there and then getting into the graduate program) and moved on the a Ph.D. at Northwestern, which has generally been considered the best school in my field for decades. Aside from testing really well and having great grades, I had people with top-level credibility write my references, and asked them to address the issue of my earlier history. When they wrote that I had always been capable of top-tier work, but due to circumstances which were now no longer a factor made other choices, I got in.

Answer 2

Harder and harder in Psychology. Schools are beginning to cut back admissions- fewer internships because fewer hospitals and clinics can absorb the cost. It is not unusual to be filling 40 openings and have 4000 applicants. There is a slight advantage in applying from a "not so prestigious undergraduate program". You are likely to get more consideration than if you were applying to Stanford, from Stanford, or Berkeley to Berkeley, etc.. Of course research and GRE scores are very helpful, but I would like to add that the value of a top tier school is relative. I would guess that there remains considerable value within the field of research and academia, but much less for clinical specialties. I'm involved in the process of accepting applicants for clinical internships and the "Ivy" status of their school is not an important consideration. If your plan is to follow a clinical path, my advise would be to make sure you have a breath and depth of assessment experiences as well as an extensive clinical background with diverse clinical populations. Good luck.

Answer 3

Just to add, in terms of extra curriculars - if your school doesn't offer many, than look beyond your school for opportunties. Things like the work you do for your church, or volunteering at a local charity, or working part time, or whatever you do outside school - those things all count. And you don't have to do a million activities. But what you do, do with some depth and focus. A 3.7 is a good GPA. If you can bring it up a bit, and do some extra curriculars, you could get into some good undergrad programs. As for law school - focus on undergrad first. Make sure your undergrad GPA is high. And get a copy of the US News and World Report top grad school magazine. You can get it off their website. They list the average GPAs and LSAT for all the top tier law schools. Law schools only look at your college stuff, so what you did in high school won't matter toward the law school admissions process. As for college extracurriculars - when you get to college, speak to the pre-law advisor. She can tell you what sorts of things law schools tend to like.