Hi guys, I’m currently a junior at a B rank university, getting my undergrad degree in Management Information Systems. I’ve done well here, got my tuition paid for thanks to a grade-based scholarship. However, I want to get to the next level. I believe that being from a no-name university with this degree may make me non-competitive for the kinds of jobs I hope to have one day (Security Analyst or Scrum Master for a top tech company like Google/Facebook/Microsoft/Apple/Amazon etc.)
One solution I was considering was to go to grad school. I figure going to a great school for my grad degree would help “mask” the undergrad school and degree a little bit and bring me into competition with the top students in the US.
My high school performance was pretty abysmal (3.14 GPA), but I am hoping that won’t be considered.
My current GPA is 3.89, and I hope to bring it up back above 3.9 by the end of this semester, and maybe a 3.93 by the time I graduate.
In terms of research, I have to finish writing a 35-50 page thesis paper by the time I graduate, but I have no other research experience.
I forget my SAT scores but I believe they were around 1200. Haven’t taken the GRE’s yet.
I have two technical certifications (A+ and Net+), one non-technical cert (Project+), and hope to get Security+ by the end of May. I’ll be an intern in the IT department of a big name insurance company this summer.
I could get a recommendation letter from an assistant attorney general who graduated from Yale, though that obviously doesn’t directly relate to my major.
In terms of extra-circulars, I did a lot of volunteer work at hospitals/local church/scout troop back in high school. In college, I was vice president of a club for about a year. Haven’t really done much else.
What do you guys think my chances would be at the following schools for Masters degrees, as things stand right now?
MIT
Yale
Boston University
University of Texas- Austin
UC Davis
UMass Amherst
UConn
Also, what can I do now in order improve my portfolio so that I can reach higher on this list?
Thanks for the help!