<p>Hi,
I graduated from a top 5 ranking engineering undergrad univ with a low gpa (just under 3.0), took the GRE once and got (760 q, 540 v, 4.5 awa) and never took it again. I have 2 years of undergrad research under my belt, with two good LORs to come out of these. Working as a RA a year so far at a university and published two international papers (impact factors over 5 journals) as 2nd author for both and a really good LOR coming out of this one (drawback is that this isn't an EE lab, it is an ME lab). I was just wondering, what my chances are at a good electrical engineering graduate program (trying to go straight to PhD if I can).</p>
<p>You don’t have much of a chance at one of the Top 10 EE grad programs unless a professor makes a call on your behalf. Your GPA is just too low. Your GRE is not great either. Talk to your professors to get some feedback.</p>
<p>Just look at some applicant profiles:</p>
<p>[2011</a> Applicant Profiles and Results - The GradCafe Forums](<a href=“2011 Applicant Profiles and Results - Engineering - The GradCafe Forums”>2011 Applicant Profiles and Results - Engineering - The GradCafe Forums)</p>
<p>[2010</a> Applicant Profiles and Results - The GradCafe Forums](<a href=“2010 Applicant Profiles and Results - Engineering - The GradCafe Forums”>2010 Applicant Profiles and Results - Engineering - The GradCafe Forums)</p>
<p>[2009</a> Applicant Profiles - The GradCafe Forums](<a href=“2009 Applicant Profiles - Engineering - The GradCafe Forums”>2009 Applicant Profiles - Engineering - The GradCafe Forums)</p>
<p>So my graduating class median GPA was 3.1, also the research I did plus the international journals won’t help? Really? So essentially, the top grad schools don’t care whether I’m really good at research just care I do well on tests? okay…I believe you.</p>
<p>They’ll care that you did good research. They’ll also care when someone else did equally good research and also had a much better GPA. It’s not like these tops schools are hurting for lack of applicants; they’re always looking for any good reason to cross names off their list. You still have some strong highlights, however, and you might do well aiming for something top 30-50. You could also apply for master’s programs–a good GPA there will wipe out your undergrad GPA record. (This is all assuming that you didn’t have something dramatic happen to you during undergrad, i.e. major illness, family problems, etc.)</p>
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It’s not that they care about GPA/GRE more than research, it’s that there are more than enough qualified applicants who have very high GPA/GRE on top of research experience. So it’s not about being “really good”, it’s about being better than enough of the other applicants. EE probably has the most competitive engineering admissions after CS.</p>
<p>It’s often said that GPA doesn’t matter that much for Ph.D., but that’s in the context of, say, 3.5 vs. 3.9. Sub-3.0 is a massive impediment. You’re probably going to have to settle for below top 10, unless your letter of recommendation is glowing praise from someone famous.</p>
<p>For reference, average GPA is above 3.8 at Stanford and Illinois, and closer to 3.9 at MIT and Berkeley.</p>
<p>Thanks, at least the following replies were more constructive than the first. Does it matter how prestigious the journal publications are? Also, do I have a better chance at Master’s programs under thesis + either TA or RA (cuz I don’t think I can afford the tuition)? My transcript shows improvement over time, I trashed my first two years of college, and looks like I finally woke up the beginning of my Junior year. Also, does it matter that I did sports during my college yrs? (I was assuming not so I didn’t mention before)… Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Gshine, do you have a source for those GPA stats? I’m curious to see them.</p>
<p>As for the prestige, it would really depend on how much of that work you contributed. You’re second author out of how many total authors? To be honest, unless the research was groundbreaking and you contributed significant innovations and the PI is willing to support that, it won’t be enough. I don’t know much about Master’s programs, but I would think your copious amounts of experience would give you an advantage over your peers in securing assistantships.</p>
<p>Illinois and Stanford used to post GPA means on their websites. Illinois was 3.86, Stanford was 3.85 for MS and 3.87 for Ph.D. This was a few years ago, but I’m assuming that they haven’t declined. My Berkeley and MIT numbers are guesswork but likely correct because those two are significantly more selective than the other two. Berkeley stated that successful applicants have “3.7+” on its website.</p>
<p>Another data point is CMU CS, which is over 3.8 (from Mor Harchol-Balter’s well-known CS admissions guide) and that department is placed alongside MIT/Stanford/Berkeley CS. I’m guessing the EE averages are comparable to the CS averages.</p>
<p>Yea well, one of the publications was pretty ground breaking, and my contribution was significant, and out of four authors, the fourth being PI, and the other publication wasn’t that ground breaking but important, with post-doc, me, and PI…problem, I did 80% of the work and still got 2nd author…oh well. The PI knows this so I should get a very good LOR.</p>
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<p>I would like to read your paper.</p>