Is this person putting me down?

There is this person who is extremely close to my husbands family. She is the same age as mine and we are working in similar fields. She is attending graduate school in a small university. The moment she got to know that I have plans of applying to the top schools in the country, she was taken aback and seemed quite unhappy about it. From then on, every SINGLE time my graduate school application topic came up, this is what she would say “You will get in, you have work experience” emphasizing the word "work experience" while speaking.

She has made these comments more than 5 times (i e., every single time my graduate school topic comes up) and it is driving me nuts.

Is she putting me down or am I reading too much into it?
I am already going through a lot of stress at work and am not sure if my graduate school plans will work out and this person's words are really getting to me. I am somehow getting the impression that she doesn't like that am targeting top schools and hence keeps making these comments. How do I deal with this? Please help!!!

Hiya..
It's difficult for me to tell whether the person is putting you down or not by reading those words..
It's all about intonation with something like this..

What strikes me though is that she is very clearly jealous of the fact that you are looking to get into one of the top schools..

My way of dealing with jealousy is usually to try and boost the other persons confidence and then they tend to quit trying to put me down/invalidate my opinions and desires..
Perhaps since she's already in graduate school, you could ask for her advice on everything that you should expect from your own placement..
Maybe next time the conversation turns to school and your hopeful place, you can say something like ''I'm really really nervous and just hope that I get in.. how was it for you when you first started? Is there anything that you can think of that would have helped you as a new student.?''

Make it clear that you value her experience and you'll hopefully show her that this doesn't mean she's suddenly second best to you..
xx