Santa Claus' video log, which ranks the Christmas Light displays on a route last winter.
Duration : 3 min 23 sec
I’m a student at a small (but nationally ranked) private liberal arts college. Yale is my dream graduate school (although I am also looking at Brown, Duke, Princeton.. etc), I would like to go for clinical psychology – so I’d like some feedback from anyone who went to any of these schools or has worked at any of the Ivy League schools on whether or not I should consider applying… I will be graduating with a 3.8 (if all goes as planned), I am in the honors program, will have written an honors thesis and presented my own research at our annual Rall Symposium, I will have had at least 1 year of volunteer experience in the psychology field, will have research collaboration with a professor and graduated with honors some form of cum laude. I’ve also had at least 1 job for my entire college career, sometimes I’ve held down 2. Is there anything else I should do? Do I have enough credentials? I still have yet to take the GRE, and I know that I need to score very high, but I’m not that worried. What do you think??
Just to add – I go to North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. It is not one of the TOP private liberal arts colleges, but I have seen lists of admissions to graduate programs from my college and there have been people admitted into places like Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and Yale. Does that help any?
I could give you better advice if you told me the name of your school.
When applying to the top schools quality of your undergraduate school is a much bigger factor than many people think it is. I was recently told that it was the most important factor by someone who has been on the PhD admissions committees in economics or finance at Princeton, Berkeley and Duke.
The top programs are very competitive — but if you truly are at a top liberal arts college, then your GPA and a very high GRE score will get you into some very good schools. These schools are highly selective — so you may not get into all of them.
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Looking at the other responses, I have two comments. The first is that you do NOT need to have money. In fact, for graduate programs, these schools will pay you to go. The second is that volunteer work is not nearly as important for graduate programs as for undergraduate schools. When I applied to PhD programs, I was not even asked about it. Your volunteer work in your field and the fact that you put yourself through school will be enough.
I'm a rising high school senior, and I've been looking at all my options. I live close to UVM (University of Vermont), which is one of the top ranked state colleges in the US, and I've been offered admission into their honors college. If I stay in the program for all four years, my diploma will reflect this, and I will graduate with a special honor's degree. On the other hand, I'm also considering some elite private schools, such as Kenyon College, Wheaton, Brandeis, St Lawrence, Swarthmore and Amherst. The thing is, those schools are further from home, and they cost a lot more. For employers and graduate schools, is there a substantial (or any) advantage to a good private school over a public honors college?
there really is no difference unless you went to an ivy league school and graduated with honors. What the schools want to see is how well that you have done in the level of classes. If you can stay in the honors programs at UVM for all four years and do really good I would say do that. The only time the school might make a difference is if the employer went to the school as well, some like to hire ppl from the same school if they have a choice.
Ranking03Yah ok, I asked a similar question to this but it's different.
So say I went to UCI (Irvine) for undergraduate study, then I transfer to UCSF high pathetically for graduate studies. Will UCSF (San Francisco) look at where I went in the admissions and look at teh rank of that undergrad school?
I'm looking to become a pharmacist .
K thx guys :'D
UCI is actually a top tier school for undergrad studies. You have no worries about going there.
But really, all they care about is how well you did in undergrad school and that the school was accredited. My daughter applied to 5 grad schools and was accepted at 4 and wait listed for the 5th. And that 5th one was for a super prestigious program with only 16 openings.
One trick she found was to go to a less competitive undergrad school. She went to a women's college in Pittsbugh and graduated at the top of her class, which looked a lot better than if she went to a super competitive school where she would have been in the middle of the pack.
And consider being a Physician's Assistant. The time to degree and the salary afterwards are about the same. But a PA works regular hours and the work is more interesting.
I want to attend an Ivy League school (namely Harvard). What is my chance of being accepted?
Here are my stats as of now (I'm a junior in high school):
Unweighted GPA: 3.98
Weighted GPA: 4.88
PSAT: 232
SAT: 2290
AP's: I have 6 AP's as of now and I'm planning to take 4 more next year (my senior year). I have 5's on all of my AP's so far.
Leadership: School Senate, President/Founder of a Medical/Humanitarian Club, MUN, National Honor Society
Extracurriculars: Tutoring at school, volunteering 150+ hours, volunteering at hospital/school/library, medical research internship
Other details: I skipped two grades so I'm going to be 16 when I graduate high school. Also, I'm Asian Indian.
**Our school doesn't have a ranking system but it is the number one public high school in California.
Your profile is competitive for Harvard, but there are no guarantees.
This is one of the toughest times in history to get admitted to college–there are too few spots for too many outstanding students. Along with your grades and scores, your essays and teacher recommendations will be important. And you can do all of this and STILL not get in, because there are simply too many students with stats as good as or better than yours–and, as you're probably aware, it's not always based on scores–there's an intangible quality–a "spark" that colleges are looking for.
Your high school may prove detrimental to you. Not only have you had every advantage in terms of what classes are available to you and the general education you've received, but you will likely be competing against other students from your school. (In contrast, if you'd managed these types of scores in California's worst high school, it would be nothing short of a miracle, and you'd likely be the only student applying to Harvard.)
The best you can do is continue doing well, and hope for the best. Most importantly, have a backup plan. Have several. Find other schools you will be happy at. You are lucky to live in a state with so many fabulous public universities, such as Berkeley and UCLA (and now, UCSD's star is on the rise as well). There are also several Eastern, private colleges with excellent reputations if that's really what you want. Good luck!