Possible to get into a great grad school/become a prof at a highly-ranked college
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
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! |
Anonymous
How do you expect to get into a decent grad school with bad grades? |
Anonymous
|
What field?
It’s useful to recognize that the top US colleges are the best in the world. Those professorships are highly highly highly valued. Highly. In the sciences and many other fields, prospective profs are competing with the best the world has to offer. And that’s a steep hill to climb. So if you go to a lower ranked college, it’s not just Harvard grads ahead of you. It’s the IIT’s. Oxford. Cambridge. Chinese universities. Australian universities. The whole world. Same with bad grades. Lots of other students out there in other countries working hard. US universities are a very very talent- driven place. And we want them that way. That said, if you’re good and you work hard and you’re lucky, you could still rise to the top. All that said- talent matters. |
Anonymous
|
My peers at a top-ranked grad school for my field tended to have been very successful in college. Without good grades in college, I'm guessing you'd need to have pretty amazing recommendations and a very clear sense of purpose in order to get into a competitive graduate program.
And then there's getting a job at a highly ranked college. In my field, that's unattainable for all but a few, even among those with top grades in college and a Ph.D. from an excellent program. |
Anonymous
I assumed that you couldn't, but I asked here because I've heard from professors that it's possible with a lower GPA. Someone else asked the question, so I didn't ask them more. |
Anonymous
| Thank you! |
Anonymous
HA HA HA HA HA |
Anonymous
So they don't? |
Anonymous
| Even harder to get tenure than to get a tenure-track job at a highly ranked schools. |
Anonymous
|
If you have bad grades, you can improve your chances of getting into a good grad school by:
1) Getting research experience, particularly working in the lab of a famous/notable professor; something ending up in a publication is ideal 2) Getting a high score on the GRE 3) Taking more recent classes in that area and getting good grades 4) Applying to work with someone the professor knows/ they can personally vouch to you and their opinion will carry weight Becoming a prof at a highly-ranked college has very low odds unless you're a superstar in graduate school - a good lab/school name/advisor can help but is no guarantee. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| What field? |
Anonymous
| FWIW, doing well in grad school is generally more about the quality and quantity of research and about your advisor being willing to go to bat for you (and having a good rep within the field) than about grades or coursework. |
Anonymous
|
In general, the admission to graduate school is different from that of college. College admission is holistic and affected by EC and races. Graduate admission is mostly about the academics in the special field, and EC not related to the special field does not matter at all.
If a student gets bad grade in college, he/she needs to ask himself/herself the following questions, as the graduate schools will wonder about the same 1. Do I have strong interest in the field? 2. Do I have strong ability in the field? 3. If answers to both are yes, then he needs to improve the grades. In general, it is still possible to become a professor, but the road ahead is very narrow. |
Anonymous
|
What field?
The answer for different fields is very different. |