Setting Yourself Up For Graduate School
Most of you know by now that I believe rankings at the undergraduate level are fairly useless, actually detrimental to many students and overall not very realistic or accurate. However, for graduate studies I think they are very meaningful, important and worth investigating carefully. So those entering undergraduate programs should be thinking about how to get into or set themselves up for the best chance to get into a highly regarded graduate program in their chosen field of academic interest or career path.
First, DON’T use the US News rankings when looking at graduate programs. Again the methodology of the US News rankings at all levels is suspect and vague. They should not call it rankings but a popularity scale. What you should do is look specifically at industry publications, talk to industry leaders, and professors - this will give you the best idea of what programs are the most highly regarded in your field of study.
Secondly, if your child knows or is fairly certain of what they want to do then work backwards to find the undergraduate schools that feed students into the graduate program. Many times you will find professors that graduated from the program will often promote or advocate for their best students to enter the same program. Finding a professor at any undergraduate school that went through the same program will give you a high likelihood of being able to get into the same program if you are one of their top students at the undergraduate level.
Thirdly, attend an undergraduate program where you will stand out. Graduate programs are taking students that are top in their class, and come highly recommended by professors. So going to an undergraduate program that is super competitive isn’t in your best interest to get into a great graduate program. Most graduate programs are filled with students who came from small unknown universities. GE CEO went to Washington College but attended Harvard for his MBA. GM CEO went to Kettering University but attended Stanford, Nvidia’s CEO went to Oregon State University but also attended Stanford for graduate school. Standing out is much more important than ranking in the game of graduate acceptance.
My best friend’s son graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently on loan to the University of Berkeley's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory while obtaining his PhD at the University of Utah. He is brilliant. When I asked him why he went to Utah to pursue his PhD and not continue on at UPenn or Cornell he looked at me like I was crazy. He then told me that for the type of computational enquiry that he was working on, the University of Utah was the best place he could find in the world. He showed me a different way of looking at things. He wasn’t accepted because he went to UPenn, he was accepted because he is brilliant and because he picked Utah to serve his needs - not the other way around.
Famous Alumni
Peggy Cherng is the co-founder of Panda Express and has a net worth of over 2 billion USD. She started her undergraduate education at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas later transferring to Oregon State University earning her degree in applied mathematics going on to University of Missouri for her masters and PhD degrees in computer science and electrical engineering. She created a pattern recognition program used in digital x-rays that revolutionized x-rays at the time before founding Panda Express, a Chinese fast food restaurant chain.
