<p>Hello,</p>
<p>You probably won't see a case like this most of times but I will try to keep it short and hopefully get some answers.</p>
<p>I am an international student who studied high school in the states and graduated.
High school GPA: 3.73 uw
SAT: 2170
SAT Subject Test: Math 2, Chemistry, Physics 800/710/770
I have graduated in 2009 and was accepted to UC San Diego to study chemistry.
Though, before finishing my first semester I dropped out due to family issues and whatnot, came home then went to Australia on working holiday visa (it's a one year visa with possibility to extend one more year that allows you to work freely)
Haven't really worked in a great firm that I can put on the applications.
Then I came to the UK to do a bachelors (reasons behind it is that UK has a 3 year bachelors instead of 4, just to save some time). I am in the UK at the moment, studying accounting and finance which I hate with passion, finishing up my final exams in 3 days. This is my last semester so will be awarded with a bachelors degree.
The dilemma starts here. As much as my unusual undergrad history, it will be most likely I will not get anywhere near good grades let alone ok grades. I will probably get a third class honours degree which will be somewhere around 2.0 gpa. I presume grad school with this grade is out of question.
I have given a lot of thought and I would rather study in engineering field, specifically electrical engineering following my fathers footstep. </p>
<p>I have thought few options and just wanted to know if any of them may be possible</p>
<ol>
<li>Do a second bachelors. I hope to finish it soon. Though UK bachelors do not have any general education class requirements. Basically I've been studying accounting and finance with a bit of economics and business classes along the way. No math, English or social science classes. So not sure if this will take a long time.</li>
<li>Go into postbaccalaureate program. I am still not sure what this exactly is but it says the program is for people who already finished bachelors degree and working towards grad school. </li>
<li>Shoot myself in the face and die because I messed up everything</li>
</ol>
<p>Despite I am leaning towards number 3, I'd still like to keep my hope alive.
There are some personal extenuating circumstances for my poor undergrad performance (quite serious health issues and family issues)
I mean I certainly would not want to do 4 more years just to do the bachelors. Was hoping for 2 or less than going straight into PhD instead of masters to save some time as I've been thinking of doing phd anyhow.
Getting a good letter of recommendation from university is quite out of questions as my school is top 5 in the UK (not Oxford or Cambridge though) and with so many students, lecturers will not even know who I am and they will basically write one based on my grades in the most ruthless manners.</p>
<p>Eventually I would like to study PhD at UCSD, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Duke or Carnegie Mellon (yeah I know, for someone who ruined his undergrad, I'm asking for too much)</p>
<p>What are my options or any other options you may think would be more suitable please do not hesitate to let me know</p>
<p>Sorry tried to keep it short but kinda hard to do so. Hopefully I posted on the right section, if not let me know I will move it to the appropriate one and delete this one. </p>
<p>Thank you</p>