Transfer reaches?

[pikablox2]

I'm currently a California community college student looking to transfer into a 4-year university. I'm starting to think about reach schools to apply to. Through the lens of phd admissions, which schools would be worth going to over UC Berkeley?

[tm_member]

None in CA would be better than Berkeley.

[pikablox2]

Sorry if my phrasing was unclear. Which undergraduate institutions in the United States would be worth going to over UC Berkeley?

[startz]

Berkeley is an excellent place to go, but very large. Lot's of private places will do as well or better than Berkeley, but they tend to be very expensive. (Although some will cover you if you are low income.) Also, UC schools accept lots of transfers and most private schools don't.

[pikablox2]

Would there be a list of places that will do as well or better than Berkeley for phd admissions? Would a school like Northwestern be better? Does it not really matter?

[startz]

Going to a school that feds into PhD programs does matter. That would be true of both Berkeley and Northwestern. The advantage of a private school is that you will have a better opportunity to get to know faculty.

Really a more important question is "What are you doing while in community college to prepare for PhD admissions?"

[pikablox2]

What schools usually feed into PhD programs? Is it mostly just top econ phd-granting institutions?

[startz]

That's a good start. But add in top liberal arts colleges and many flagship state universities.

Don't misunderstand, you can get into a PhD program from any undergraduate program. But coming from a competitive undergraduate program helps, especially at the very, very top PhD programs.

[pikablox2]

Sorry if my questions are unspecific but what undergraduate programs would be considered competitive for the very, very top PhD programs? Is it based on undergraduate prestige? Graduate school ranking? Or is it mostly case-by-case?

[pikablox2]

My goal is to put together a list of schools that I might want to apply to before a meeting my transfer counselor.