For most good universities, in terms of research postgraduate degrees, it is very difficult for you to be accepted unless you were literally top of the class in your undergraduate course.

They really prefer it if someone had some research experience under their belt before attempting a challenging postgraduate degree.

From my limited experience, many people choose to be a research assistant for a year or two before submitting their postgraduate application form. Others (like myself) would do a research honours degree (for 1 year), which requires you to write a mini-thesis, and allows you to perform your own research.

I think your undergraduate grades do matter if the competition is stiff between prospective candidates but they should primarily look at how well you did in your research or research degree. Becoming an RA or doing a research degree also allows you to work with principal investigators and post-docs who can then vouch for you (priceless) when you apply for postgraduate candidature.

This post has been edited by Farmer_C: Mar 2 2013, 11:41 AM