Undergraduate institution's imact on getting into graduate school

[Anonymous Questioner]

Is it possible to go to an Ivy League graduate school (or even a prestigious one that is not Ivy Leage) if you attended an undergraduate institution that is not prestigious at all?

 

I am interested in pursuing a Joint MFA/PHD degree in Creative Writing and Literary Studies (I have my eye on Cornell University). I am worried, however, that because of my undergraduate institution, I might not be able to get in. I did very well as an undergraduate (graduated summa cum laude, a commonwealth honors scholar, member of Lambda Iota Tau the literature honors society), but I fear that because I go to a very small and developing state school, I might not be taken seriously as an applicant to a prestigious university like Cornell.

 

So my main question is: How much does where you received your undergraduate degree impact your potential acceptance into graduate school? Do I have a chance? I know the writing sample is the most important part of the application, but is applying at all an exercise in futility? Thanks for any advice!

Edited November 17, 2013 by Anonymous Questioner

[danieleWrites]

I got my BAs and my MA from a Div II school no one has ever heard of in Kansas. In fact, some poor international student enrolled in it completely by mistake, thinking he got into a more prestigious school, and the story of his "happy accident" made front page headlines at the school's paper. Of course, the next semester the guy was going to a different university.

 

Long story short: two people from my MA program got into the Iowa Writer's Workshop. One of them got into Old Miss, for an MFA with a fellowship that funded him fully. One person with my sociology BA got into Harvard Law and is now making 6 figures in Hollyweird.

 

Prestige isn't as important as some people make it out to be. It does have some impact, but it's the writing sample. Get published, too. You're a creative writer, so do readings, get pubbed, look for contests, and participate in stuff like the literary magazine if your school has one.

[slouching]

I'm currently an undergraduate at a good (but not great) liberal arts college. I probably could've gone somewhere slightly more prestigious, but this seemed like the best option for me. I chose this school knowing that I'd be applying to grad school eventually, so no, I don't think attending a prestigious undergraduate institution is necessary for admittance to a prestigious grad school. In my mind, grad schools are most interested in what you've learned and what your capabilities and interests are, not where you earned your degree. Prestige helps, but there are many aspects of your application that say much more about who you really are: your writing sample, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, etc.

[Loric]

People on the adcomm will run the gamut from not even noticing where you went to being complete d-bags who only want the best of the best schools even if their school isn't.

 

If you want, you can get out a boggle board, relabel the dice to say "d-bag" "doesn't care" and "somewhere in the middle" and then shake it up. That's pretty much how your odds are going to play out.

 

It's not something you can control and if the adcomm at a school looks down on your instituition or degree then it's not someplace that would be healthy or productive for you to be ay anyways. Don't worry, just apply and do your best.