Do grad schools look more at GPA score, or the university you attended?

[miranlin]

I'm still in high school, trying to decide on my universities. I want to be admitted to a speech-language pathology graduate program, and they seem to be really competitive... Is it better to get a higher GPA at a less acclaimed university, or a low GPA at one of the top universities?

[thegirldetective]

For many grad programs, it's high GPA + research/internship experience. Contact a few programs that are roughly what you're interested in and ask them if a particular type of research/internship experience is helpful for applicants. Then go to a university where you can get that type of experience.

 

And as Mr. Bugle said, a lot of top universities have pretty crazy grade inflation, so a top university doesn't necessarily mean a lower GPA.

[reinhard]

High GPA.

 

But what makes you think going to a top university means a lower GPA?

He means MIT.

[thegirldetective]

He means MIT.

 

I wonder if MIT has enough of a reputation to offset the downside of a lower GPA?

[iphi]

If I'm not mistaken you can enter Speech Pathology programs as an undergrad! I know someone who is doing so at Marquette. Just a tip!

[Cogsprocks]

From what I understand, if you go to a school with a reputation, schools will have an idea of how people admitted from those schools perform. For example, if you went to *insert top 50 school*, admission committees would then look at how previous graduate students from those institutions performed.  So for example, if a admissions committee saw a trend of high GPA students doing terrible from a certain school, a high GPA might not mean as much. However, if they have high performing students from a certain school with lower GPAs, they might see a high GPA from that school as a big plus.

Hope this helps.

[aberrant]

From what I understand, if you go to a school with a reputation, schools will have an idea of how people admitted from those schools perform. For example, if you went to *insert top 50 school*, admission committees would then look at how previous graduate students from those institutions performed.  So for example, if a admissions committee saw a trend of high GPA students doing terrible from a certain school, a high GPA might not mean as much. However, if they have high performing students from a certain school with lower GPAs, they might see a high GPA from that school as a big plus.

Hope this helps.

 

And how do they evaluate students with lower GPA are "high performing", aside from the "numbers" (or from Harvey Mudd College)?

I agreed with a professor who once said that "you would rather be a big fish in a small pond, and not the small fish in a big pond" just because it would be extremely easy to compare small fish with the others (i.e. big fishes) in a big pond. Here, your big pond is *insert top 50 school*.

 

ps. I graduated from a *top 50 school*, or a *top 10 public school*.

[evgenia]

I went to a small private top 30 >55k per year college. I had an almost perfect GPA and every semester I freaked out that I wouldn't be able to keep my GPA. My professors were like, "Common, you go to College X, all these top graduate programs know that our school is a tough school. Relax. Going to our school is not like going to School Y across the road (there was a big public school nearby). Of course you could go to School Y and get all A's there but everyone can get all A's in that school." My professors repeatedly made fun of people who went to that public school nearby. When I graduated from my college, I somehow became convinced that people who go to public or unknown schools are doomed - they are losers with no career prospects. (Of course deep in my heart I know it's not true)  Conclusion: go to the school ranked higher and get good grades.