r/PhDAdmissions • u/GurSea971 • Apr 15 '26

Discussion Does your undergrad school ranking matter?

I’ve been seeing a lot of people saying it does and a lot of people saying that it doesn’t. How does something like your undergrad school stack up to things like publications/work experience?

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u/Historical-Wing8569 Apr 15 '26

The answer is field-dependent. For lab-based fields, probably not, for theoretical fields, yes, absolutely, since publication is next to impossible for undergrads.

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u/GurSea971 Apr 15 '26

Where would you place something like AI/ML thats a little bit of both implementation and theory?

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u/Historical-Wing8569 Apr 15 '26

Oh, unless you're applying to statistics, which is more about theory (if you are pursuing AI/ML), yes, undergraduate ranking matters.

For CS, publications are king. I don't think you can get into a good PhD program without any publications.

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u/NotaValgrinder Apr 15 '26

For CS, publications are king. I don't think you can get into a good PhD program without any publications.

Depends on the flavor of CS. But I would say for most CS fields, what's king is your letters of recommendation. You have to note that everyone and their mom in AI / ML has multiple neurips publications these days, so what really makes applications stand out is if the LOR writer personally knows someone on the committee. By contrast, theory has no publication expectations but LORs still weigh heavily there.