<p>I went to a top engineering school and pretty much blew it. I took on too much by taking too many classes and playing a varsity sport, and on top of that had some pretty bad bouts of depression that consistently led to me scrambling to get grades up when the semesters came to a close.</p>
<p>I burned out, transferred schools my senior year, and have spent the past year and a half taking classes at a small but reputable (at least regionally) engineering school where I have consistently had honors. I rediscovered just how much I enjoy learning, and really would like to go to graduate school for environmental engineering or water resources. I have a great relationship with one of my professors and have been doing research for nearly a year with him, and I will be presenting at a big conference in the field this fall. I think I can get a good recommendation from him as well as my old advisor.</p>
<p>It is so painfully frustrating to look back at my old grades. I am graduating from said Ivy and now want to go on and prove myself, but I am afraid I won't get a chance. Does anyone have suggestions? Do I need to get a second bachelors? I'm not trying to get into Ivies or top 10 or 20, though I would like a solid education and research experience.</p>
<p>Well, to be frank, engineering at most ivies isn’t that great. Cornell is the only ivy with top engineering I believe. I’m confused because you said that you transferred as a senior and are graduating from “said ivy.” That makes no sense.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was at Cornell. I guess transferred might not be the right word. I took a leave of absence in my last semester and took classes at another school, but was able to transfer credit to finish with a degree from Cornell.</p>
<p>What is your GPA within engineering? What is your GPA over the last 2 or 3 years of study? If those are better, you can really try to play them up in your application.</p>
<p>Additionally, when you write a statement of purpose, you can take a small amount of it to address any chinks in your armor. Be careful doing this, though. It needs to be brief and it needs to explain your situation without trying to pass off blame on someone or something else. Still, I included a short paragraph on some of the weak points in my application and I got into several top 10 schools in my field, so it is still something to consider.</p>
<p>You can definitely get in somewhere. Exactly how high you can aim will depend on what those GPA’s I mentioned before were, how well you do on the GRE, and how nice the letters written by these professors are. I would guess, based on your research experience, that the letters would be pretty good, so you have that going for you. You just need to do well on the GRE and you ought to at least have a shot at top 25.</p>
<p>It sounds like your GPA has been steadily rising, so that will definitely help. It sounds like you have another year left or so. Pour tons of effort into whatever classes remain and get your GPA as close to 3.0 as you can and that will also help you out.</p>
<p>You have a chance, depending on your performance at Cornell. You have a decent story to explain your previous years’ failings, and if Cornell shows a strong GPA for their coursework as well as a few good LOR’s you may be able to make the argument that your past problems were situational. As boneh3ad mentioned, address this briefly in your statement, as dwelling on it will only give a negative impression. Make sure your letter writers know about it and you may want to ask them to touch on it in their letters.</p>
<p>I got kicked out of a respectable undergrad program for bad grades, got readmitted a few years later and was able to do very well, and parlayed that into a top-10 grad school in EE. Some adcoms dismissed me initially, but by talking to them by phone or in person I was able to convince them that my later performance was the valid one.</p>
<p>You have a GREAT chance if you do the following…</p>
<p>1) Find engineering employment with a company that offers tuition reimbursement
2) Get about 5 to 7 years of good experience
3) Enroll at a graduate school that has a “graduate non-degree” status
4) Take 3 courses (of the 10) and ace them
5) Apply for full-admission</p>
<p>There almost NO WAY a graduate school denies a student who:</p>
<p>a) Aced 1/3 of the graduate program…and
b) Has steady reimbursement checks coming into Accounts Payable</p>
<p>not only Cornell, Columbia, … Princeton has outstanding engineering school too (most selective among Ivy schools). Harvard has good engineering school as well.</p>