Does being a UCI undergrad hurt my chances of UCI graduate school?

Question

I am currently a Junior Transfer at UCI, pursuing a degree in Psychology and Social Behavior. Fortunately, it seemed, UCI also has a graduate program for a doctoral degree in precisely the field of study and focuses I most desire (that no other school offers that I am aware of) 
Therefore, I was very excited to try to stay at UCI for graduate school and perhaps beyond, researching Personality Psychology and Affective Sciences (emotion/motivation). HOWEVER my roommate was just telling me that UCI graduate programs want "new blood" - that they accept very very few people already from UCI and want graduates from OTHER schools, so that out of the very few people they accept each year anyway, the majority are from other schools. Google searches have not turned up anything... does anyone know anything about this, is it true? I can apply to UCLA, UCR, even considering Stanford - but nowhere offers Personality Psychology and Affective Sciences, that I have found, and staying local would also be wonderful. 
Are my chances of Graduate school at UCI really hurt by being already from UCI? It sounds ridiculous, but... I am concerned :(

Prof. Cochise · Answer

Hello Lindsay

Although all schools are different from each other, officially your undergraduate school should not influence which post-grad program you are considered for.

In reality, UCI post-grad ought to welcome your application.

Go ahead and apply. also have a backup plan in case UCI doesn't work out for you.

Good luck

michaelabassil · Answer

Being Junior, it seems like it is pretty late for you to go and graduate from a different university. I think that both the process and the consequences of transferring will end up hurting you more than it (possibly) benefits. You'll have more transcripts to deal with, which is a pain when applying to grad school, and I think most schools worth transferring to from UCI require something like a minimum 2 years there to get your degree from there -- so you'd end up needing to take an extra year. Overall, I think your best option is to stay at UCI and not stress; work hard to make yourself a competitive applicant to their grad school and hope for the best. If you don't get accepted there, it's not the end of the world! The exact name of your phd program doesn't have to perfectly correspond to what you're researching. I'm sure you can find programs that are in the same vicinity of what you're interested in, and, once you get there, you can opt to specifically do research on "Personality Psychology and Affective Sciences" (whatever that is, I'm no expert XD).

To be honest, I've never heard of grad schools being biased AGAINST undergrads from the same university -- in fact, I've only ever heard of the opposite. If there is an advantage to being from somewhere else, my guess is that it's very little, and -- on the whole -- I think your best decision is still to just stay and graduate from UCI. Hope that helps, good luck! :)

To be honest, I've never heard of grad schools being biased AGAINST undergrads from the same university -- in fact, I've only ever heard of the opposite. If there is an advantage to being from somewhere else, my guess is that it's very little, and -- on the whole -- I think your best decision is still to just stay and graduate from UCI. Hope that helps, good luck! :)

Does being a UCI undergrad hurt my chances of UCI graduate school?

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