undergraduate study

[petitecoeur]

I had a question about whether graduate schools care about where you did you undergraduate study. I didn't see anything in the tags, but perhaps i'm not looking hard enough

Comments

[freddie]

Yes, perceived quality of undergraduate institutions matters. Like most everything else, it can be overcome by a quality applicant, and like everything, it is never enough to guarantee acceptance anywhere at all. But sure, it matters. The relative importance of it compared to other factors, sad to say, can only be answered with the usual "it depends."

[lostreality]

if your school is known for being very hard they may be more lenient on your GPA, depending on if they know that reputation or not.

Taking all easy classes would probably be worse than taking more advanced classes and doing slightly worse in them. Are you honestly considering taking easy classes to skate your way through college so that you can artificially inflate your GPA to get into grad school? What are you going to do when you have to take actual graduate classes? Taking more challenging courses in undergrad will just better prepare you for grad school.

Also, if you don't love taking classes that challenge you intellectually, why do you want to go to grad school?

[petitecoeur]

well, we don't really have any bullshit classes, so by easy I mean comparatively easier. Say, taking honors analysis in the R^n and getting a B vs. just taking regular analysis and getting a A-.

[hkitsune]

Coming from a university that is notorious for grad deflation (Chicago, Harvey Mudd, etc.) is somewhat advantageous, as far as I can tell, while coming from a university that is notorious for grad inflation (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.) can hurt your application. That is, a 3.25 at Chicago looks much better than a 3.25 at Harvard, even though Harvard has a better reputation.

[brittdreams]

Some of the universities you listed as being notorious for grad inflation have policies in place to combat that now, though I have no idea whether they are perceived as being effective and how admissions committees consider them if they are aware of them.
ETA: These universities, AFAIK, send out something noting the anti-grade inflation policies with transcripts.

Also, I would add that my current graduate institution (a large, public university) has an average GPA at graduation around a B+ but I doubt anyone would think about grade inflation here even though it is rampant. (For example, I TA'd an intro level course and the average grade was designed to be a B. Clearly, that's grade inflation since I had always been told that a C is supposed to be average.)

[bananainpyjamas]

while coming from a university that is notorious for grad inflation (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.) can hurt your application.

Do you have any sources for this? I've never heard that going to an elite school can actually hurt an application. To the contrary, the professors I've spoken to say that undergraduate prestige only helps. Sure, a 3.5 from Caltech will (and should) be given more weight than a 3.5 from Harvard, but to suggest that a degree from Harvard (or Yale, Princeton, etc) is an actual drawback in the admissions process is ludicrous.

[hkitsune]

I know a couple of people who have applied to graduate school from Harvard with 3.5s and have been told that their GPA looks suspiciously low. This is in contrast to people I know at UChicago with 3.5s who impress people with their GPAs. I don't have any statistics, it's purely anecdotal because that's how I roll.

[seasontoseason]

also Reed College does

[thruyourveins]

it depends if the grad school even looks at your overall gpa. a lot of schools seem to place more emphasis on last 60 units and/or major gpa (and just use the overall gpa as an admissions minimum/cutoff). however, if you want to pad your overall gpa with some easier classes, i don't see the harm. it might look weird on a transcript if your last year is entirely a bunch of easy, freshman level classes though.