<p>I'm a civil and environmental engineering major at the University of Maryland (College Park), planning to graduate in May 2011. I'm really interested in the joint engineering and public policy programs available at MIT and Carnegie Mellon (not sure if I want my PhD or master's). There's the program at Maryland too, but I'm really itching to get out of the area.</p>
<p>The crossroads between engineering and public policy has always intrigued me. I am interested in either water resources (floodplain mapping, etc.) or alternative energy.</p>
<p>Here are my spec's.. I'm hoping that a few of you can give me some insight on what I should work on. And my strengths and weaknesses.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.85, Major GPA: 4.0</p>
<p>Research: 1 summer doing hydrology statistics research (pending publication)
1 summer doing research on shale natural gas at the Dept. of Energy
(however these two above research stints were not lab based, they were programming and information gathering based)
by senior year, will have 3 years of lab research dealing with ocean wave energy with a thesis paper written</p>
<p>GRE's: Don't know because i haven't taken them yet. If this helps any, i got ~700 on each section when i took the SAT, mid-700's when I took the SAT math subject tests.</p>
<p>Letter of recommendations: Should be good - I will be able to get solid rec's from the two professors that I did hydro and energy research with.</p>
<p>Work experience (non-research): Will be working at a national engineering firm doing floodplain mapping GIS work during this winter, part-time during the spring, and full-time during the summer, before my senior year</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (do these even count?!): Pretty involved. VP of American Society of Civil Engineers. VP of Society of Women Engineers. Trip leader for Alternative Breaks program to New Orleans. Section leader for an intro course and teaching fellow for an intro engineering course (Statics).</p>
<p>Other: Asian female from Maryland. Outgoing, social, hard-working. I've got lots of interests outside of engineering which is probably a factor in why I want to pursue this joint degree.</p>
<p>Any input is appreciated! Thanks!</p>