Possible to get into a great grad school/become a prof at a highly-ranked college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re not going to get into a top grad program without top grades. However, if being a prof is the goal, you can get into a grad program somewhere, and teach somewhere, and apply out once you have proven yourself and have solid research under your belt that would be attractive to top universities.

Nope.

That's what happens to a lot of graduates of "good" programs. You rarely, if ever, "move up" and do research that is good enough to teach at a higher ranking school- unless you are a genius who grew up poor.

It's more likely you would teach at community college (which is fine!) Or travel from college to college on temporary contracts for a year or two at each place.

There is a baby bust getting ready to take place, you really don't want to get into higher education unless you already excel.

Sadly this is true.

But I also think that there are some good reasons for it.

Top-flight academia is cuttthroat.
They throw you in a shark tank and see if you come out alive with good results.
If you get eaten then the faculty just move on.

This stuff about “big fish in a small pool” just doesn’t cut it.
You have to swim in the big pool AND be a big fish.

But top-flight professor jobs can be the best job in the world.
You get to work on what you want to work on. You’re just held responsible for the results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With bad grades in college, if you do well in grad school? If yes, how bad can they be before your chances are significantly lower than a student with higher grades?

By the way, by "highly-ranked," I don't mean to look down on schools that aren't. Many schools provide a great education. My understanding is that the highly-ranked schools are able to provide better job security and pay higher salaries and benefits.

Thanks in advance!

Say Jane Doe is a bright student with, say, a 2.7 GPA at a really good, tough school.

She has a strong interest in some topic, like geriatric care management, that's important and understudied. She's already doing good research where she is now, and the people she works with like her a lot.

She has weak grades because she did poorly freshman year, she spent too much time on research, or she got into a car accident, or came down with bad Covid-19.

Then: there's hope of her going to grad school and doing well there. She might not get into the snazziest grad school, but maybe she'll get in under the wing of some researcher who's doing important, interesting work. She'll work hard, and she won't be a professor at Stanford, but she can have a lovely career at Upper North Not Well Known State University of Some Mountain State.

But, if she has bad grads because she was a little depressed and draggy, and it's hard for her to focus, then a good grad school will probably reject her, partly because pulling her into academic life would be terrible for her.

Being an assistant professor is fine for a well-organized person who can bang out a 30-page paper no matter what.

It would be absolutely torture for a bright but depressed or anxious person who needs to do a 200-page dissertation and starts playing video games instead. Because she would have to deal with the dissertation, AND teaching undergrads, AND maybe lab work, AND dealing with faculty politics.

If Jane Doe is in that second situation, I think she'd be better off trying to improve her health, and asking for career ideas on the jobs forum, than trying to shoehorn herself into a doctoral program.

[Anonymous]

No. Minimum
Gpa for many high ranking graduate programs isa 3.7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With bad grades in college, if you do well in grad school? If yes, how bad can they be before your chances are significantly lower than a student with higher grades?

By the way, by "highly-ranked," I don't mean to look down on schools that aren't. Many schools provide a great education. My understanding is that the highly-ranked schools are able to provide better job security and pay higher salaries and benefits.

Thanks in advance!

In what field?

This is a terrible place to ask this question. Vast majority of people here think graduate school means professional degrees like Masters in Public Policy or Masters in Public Health. You'll mostly get wrong answers.

Colleges that are "highly-ranked" for undergraduates is not the same as colleges being sought after by professors ("high-ranked").

[Anonymous]

My cousin discovered a neuron and did a post doc at Harvard. He's almost 50 and still a fellow. Probably will never have a cushy professor job.

[Anonymous]

More elite = less cushy

OP's original premise is flawed.