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I'm not sure how many people would know anything about this at all, but...

I'm a soon-to-be sophomore at the University of Houston, part of the Honors College there. I'm a English-Classical Studies double major/philosophy minor and my GPA is 3.7+.

I have my heart absolutely set on grad school for literature, but English doctoral programs being what they are, I MUST get into one of the top 20 schools or I might as well not go. I'm aware UH is not, err, the best school out there, even though I think the Honors program is good. The issue is, it's dirt cheap for school, and as I don't plan on making any kind of significant amount of money, um, EVER, I don't know if it's better to stay here.

So my question is: should I transfer or no? I'm thinking I might at this point if I can to someplace like NYU, William & Mary, etc. - or even University of Texas at Austin (with honors everything, hopefully). Do I even have a chance, should I bother going somewhere more expensive at all, etc., etc.?

By Achat (Achat) on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 11:37 am: Edit

With a 3.7+ GPA you can be more selective in your choice of colleges to transfer to than NYU or William and Mary. Granted these are good colleges too. How about Columbia, U Chicago, Yale, Johns Hopkins?

By Robingoodfellow (Robingoodfellow) on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 03:19 pm: Edit

You honestly think so? My concern would be that the school would get in the way... that the quality of classes would not be up to par - I've taken many great honors humanities courses, but my math & science is not so great (college algebra, general bio, geology). Also, I haven't had that many extracurriculars (though next year I will have some good ones).

I'd also be concerned about financial aid, since I'm planning on being in school for so long, my parents are far from loaded, and I probably won't ever make much.

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 03:22 pm: Edit

Robin: Look at the schools represented in the English grad programmes you are thinking of. If the vast majority are top-name schools, then transferring might be a good idea. If there are a reasonable number of state Us on the lists, stay and save some money.

My other suggestion is to consider not going straight from undergrad into grad. If a state has a good grad school with cheap in-state tuition, live there for a few years, establish residency, and go for less money.

By Robingoodfellow (Robingoodfellow) on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 06:52 pm: Edit

That's excellent advice. I haven't seem anything about represented schools in the grad program websites I've visited, so... should I e-mail them?

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 07:04 pm: Edit

Aries has great advice there. I would like to know as well what the current situation is with graduate school programs. I know that in my day, it was not that big of a deal where a student took his undergraduate studies as long as he did well in the area of his focus and got good GRE scores. It was the professional schools (MBA, MD, JD) that seemed to take a bit more of an interest on where you did your undergrad studies, but a top test score and grades seemed to mitagate that situation as well.

In my day, it was not anywhere nearly as competitive to get into a graduates school programs (PHD). In fact there was some financial assistance offered in the way of fellowship--real money, not loans, because the programs would probably flounder if left up to its own economics. Not the case for med, law and business schools. You pay and you borrow if you don't have the money, and I suspect some programs look at you less favorably if you are not a good prospect for getting your hands on the money--some ask you right out how you think you are going to pay for the program.

I went to a university with outstanding graduate programs and the kids who went to the graduate schools came from all kinds of school, no real concentration from the peer schools. If the situation has changed, do let us know.

By Chriscornelluv (Chriscornelluv) on Monday, June 07, 2004 - 10:53 pm: Edit

I have a BA in Literature from SIU -not the most prestigious school- but I had very good professors and courses. My major GPA was a 3.97 and overall GPA was a 3.87. I took 3yrs off and am now trying to get into grad school. My friend graduated from SIU with a GPA in English of 4.0 and applied to 4 schools, but only one accepted her. I am very worried to say the least.

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Tuesday, June 08, 2004 - 05:43 pm: Edit

Robin:
You could call or email the schools. Some websites might list where students come from under something like "student profile" or whatnot.