For the top programs? No. But to be even accepted into the mediocre programs, you need to do well in many areas, like research and in specific core classes.

Perhaps, you can come out to work a few years and then decide to do a PhD? Having 5+ years experience in the field and doing well definitely says a lot more than 4 years in college.

Have you considered maybe doing a masters first then possibly the PhD?

>>17197852

I am aware of it. My initial plan was to take a master and then a PhD. But my professors say that I could take a master or a PhD, either of them with a scholarship.

phd is useless, get a master's

>>17197895

Why PhD is useless?

>>17197907

You can be overqualified, which makes it hard to find a job sometimes. Unless you want to be a professor (still hard). A masters degree is a nice 'in the middle' education that puts you above average, so you can demand a good salary, while not being overqualified for the job (companies won't hire a Ph. D for 100k/year if they can get a masters student to do the same job just as well for 50k/year).