Applying to PhD Programs in Computer Science (2014) [pdf]
What isn&#x27;t often discussed is how hard it is to go from a no name school that isn&#x27;t ranked highly to an elite school. At a non-elite school your recommenders may be unknown to the admissions committee, the &#x27;level&#x27; of education these applicants receive can be questionable (&quot;What does an A mean from this program and how does it compare to our class?&quot;), their research experience could be weak, student visibility could be weak (i.e. their recommender isn&#x27;t known in the field, and their student didn&#x27;t do  any sort of research that made professors at our school aware of them in advance), the courses they take may be weak compared to other applicants (i.e. their program doesn&#x27;t offer as many advanced courses, compared to other programs) and so on. There can be tremendous risk in taking students from unknown schools or non-elite schools. It&#x27;s much easier to accept graduate students from a similar elite school, with well-known recommenders, and a history of successful applicants from that came from that school that did well in said program. It isn&#x27;t impossible, but it is an extra step these applicants have to overcome.