Do Graduate Schools care were you went for your Undergraduate Degree?
Favorite Answer
– research experience. as a psych grad student, forget about coursework — your primary function will be to do research. thus, when applying, if you can demonstrate a history of research experience, that is good. a senior thesis, where you generated an idea, took initiative in designing and running an experiment, etc., can help tremendously. this may be one of the most important factors, indeed.
– letters of recommendation. one thing that will help you is that you are at a good *research* university. therefore, your letter writers are known in the field. and being connected is important. this is unfair to people at, say, small liberal arts schools where less research is done — and hence, the professors aren’t as widely known). nonetheless, it’s a fact of life, and there is a reason for why it happens. let’s say a prof on the admissions committee has a friend from UC who he/she hangs out with at conferences or went to grad school with. because this prof knows the UC prof personally, that letter of recommendation will hold much more value — a person will trust the advice of a known friend much more than a stranger. human nature. so, if your profs are known in their fields, it will help (as long as you get a good letter!)
– generally, the GRE isn’t weighted too heavily. however, if you manage to do very well on it, it can help a lot — since it will show that you perform as well (or better) on some objective (albeit arguably flawed) measure than your standard ivy league student. that can really level the playing field.
– as for grades. if you have average grades at a big school, it might show a lack of discipline. getting top marks though will show that you are serious about your education. and getting top marks at UC isn’t that easy, especially if you’ve challenged yourself with some difficult courses.
best of luck! if it doesn’t work out this year, there are always lots of options. look into full time (paid) RA positions at big research schools. you can gain loads of experience, a few publications, and a super strong letter by doing something like that.
You need: grades, GRE score, work experience, PUBLICATIONS.
