Dual Enrollment Student Looking for Graduate School Advice

[ranttila1]

I am currently a dual enrollment high school junior and college freshman at a small public university with a graduation rate of 48% and an average ACT of 22 (not very good). I am attending this college because it is in my hometown and in order to get my undergraduate degree done cheaper and faster. My end goal is to get a PhD in sociology from a Top 10 institution in order to become a professor. Once I graduate high school, I will have around 90 college credits and an A.A. Degree, but I am unsure where to go next. I do have lots of options, though, because I have gotten a perfect score on the SAT test and have good extracurriculars. Here are the 2 options I have:

1: I would stay at my local college (even though I have the “stats” to go to a higher academic ranking one) in order to get my bachelors in sociology after 1 more year (at age 19). I currently have a 4.0 GPA in college and hope to maintain a high GPA throughout. I also am getting research experience at the moment and plan to get more throughout my dual-enrollment years in order to boost my graduate schools application. After my bachelors in sociology, I would attend a (presumably) mid-high ranking masters program. After that is done, then I would apply for a PhD in sociology at a Top 10 Institution. My worry with this plan is that my low ranked bachelors institution would limit my options and chances at attending a Top 10 PhD institution.

2: After I am done with my dual-enrollment years, I would go to a high ranking institution such as Duke, The University of Michigan, The University of Wisconsin, or Vanderbilt. I don’t think my credits would transfer well so I would probably start with around 35. This would mean that it would take 3 more years to get my undergraduate education done (2 more than option 1). Throughout I would try to get research experience as well as maintain a high GPA. After I got my bachelors from a high ranking institution, I would then apply for Top 10 master’s and Top 10 PhD programs, with the hope that I would get into a PhD program.

What option do you think I should take, keeping in mind that my biggest goal is to get into a Top 10 PhD program for sociology? How much would getting my bachelor’s degree at a weak institution such as my own hurt me in advancing up the academic latter? I know that becoming a professor is very difficult, so I want to have the best chances by attending a Top 10 PhD granting institution. Option 1 would accelerate my career if Option 2 leads me to a master’s degree, but I just don’t know which one would be better. Could I get some help?

[xyz234]

Option 2 is the better option if your only goal is top 10 PhD program. The biggest factor for admissions is going to be research experience and you are much more likely to be able to RA or do strong independent research at an institution with more resources and high-profile faculty. One thing I would add is that you should cut out the master's step. Getting a master's in sociology does not significantly help you get into a PhD program and is often very complicated to fund. Some people do it and it works out well, but it should be plan b, not your first choice.

I totally understand if you don't want to spend several extra years working towards your bachelors, but if the only goal is PhD programs I think it would be most likely to pay off in the long run. I think you are correct about the (unfortunate) role of prestige in academia and aiming high is usually worth it.

[lkaitlyn]

Option 2. Graduating "by age 19" doesn't matter to grad schools, and honestly isn't a good thing for anybody socially/academically. My mom used to be an admissions officer at one of the top schools in the country (if one believes U.S. news rankings, which I don't); they'd actually avoid admitting people who tried to rush through high school because those students almost always ended up imploding because they didn't take advantage of the social and academic opportunities around them. (Plus, they ended up being weaker students in the end when it came to doing in-depth projects like senior theses that require time to do well.) I don't know if grad schools are the same, but it's worth thinking about.

[Amos McGee]

Apparently you are considering the main benefit of option 1 is the financial savings. However, keep in mind that with option 1 you have to pay for a master's degree, while with option 2 you could go straight to the doctorate - so I think the finances will be the same in the end. However, if you complete a good master’s degree in option 1, your chances of being admitted to a good doctoral program are also most likely the same in the end.  I would still prefer option 2 because name schools open doors in general.