<p>Background: Ok, I wasn't that great of a college student. 3.0 GPA engineering from Berkeley. Yes it's a hard school but I know I'm smart enough to work for a better GPA. Oh well right? I graduated last year. I've been working in major related stuff for a year and it's made me realize that grad school is more important than ever since work is filled with smart PhD guys.</p>
<p>I took my GREs my third year in school when I felt motivated to work hard but I never was motivated enough to prep for apps and stuff. Now I'm totally regretting not applying senior year and not applying after I graduated. I swore to myself that I HAVE to settle down and do my apps this summer.</p>
<p>My GRE isn't top notch but it's decent I suppose. 1350, but I can retake. After all I practiced 1400+ so to be honest I wasn't exactly stoked about my score. However it's been 2 years so if I do retake I'll have to crack the books and hope to nail it in August or so.</p>
<p>Recs: Ugh. I hate this part. I probably only know 1 professor well, and another kinda knows me, but that was like over a year ago. I should've kept in touch, but I guess I was just glad to get out of school. What can I do here? Shoot them an e-mail and update them first?</p>
<p>What are my options? Obviously Stanford's not going to take me although I envy those who have their employer pay (I'm at a startup so even if I could get in, I doubt they would shell out money). I'm not very confident in myself even if I haul ass and do the best on my apps that I could possibly do. Even with better GRE scores (say 100 pt improvement), I don't know how much that'll help. What's a realistic option for me? One would be to just go to a CSU like SJ State, haul ass, get that 4.0, and then apply to a PhD program.</p>
<p>I'm just semi-depressed at this point because I know I should've kept that high school work ethic through college.</p>
<p>Your GRE is quite high.
How much in the quantitative section? Your GPA is not that good but you came from a top school so it will improve your app.</p>
<p>Which eng field are you in?</p>
<p>I agree with ghionus - as long as you have a 770+V you should be fine. Most engineering schools stop caring once you get past a 550V 4.5AW. I would only retake it if I was <770Q.</p>
<p>Your gpa is not great, but it was at a difficult school and, more importantly, there is nothing you can do about it.</p>
<p>LOR’s may be an issue, but it is generally accepted that people in the workplace will get 1-2 LOR’s from managers or senior professionals, especially those who also hold the PhD. That is what I did and no one batted an eye. As you said, make contact with the 1-2 professors you still know, give them an update, and ask them for an LOR. Then figure out the other 1-2 at work. </p>
<p>If you feel you just cannot let anyone at work know, you have no choice other than to find 1-2 more professors, which will mean they probably will not be able to say anything other than “he got an A in my class” but it at least meets the minimum requirements. If you go this route you might want to find a way to mention it in your SOP.</p>
<p>I would recommend you apply for both MS and PhD programs. You may still get the PhD program at a decent school, and it would probably be funded. Failing that, you could redeem yourself with a masters, but it will be expensive to go it on your own. Unfortunately start-ups rarely ever offer tuition assistance, but you may want to consider changing jobs in favor of a company that does.</p>
<p>Don’t stress too much - nothings over while you are still breathing.</p>
<p>GRE was 550 verbal, 800 quant, 5.5 on writing. *<strong><em>es me off because I was 600V/780Q on my diagnostic @ Kaplan, 800/620 on a practice the night before the exam. Oh I still remember. *</em></strong>ed me off. I feel like I should’ve retaken but unfortunately I didnt qualify for the guaranteed Kaplan crap. Working that summer, I probably did like 80% - 90% of the required work (dude there’s a BUTTLOAD of assignments on their website), and I believe you have to do like 100% of their work in order to qualify for the score guarantee. =[</p>
<p>I’m worried about LOR from my professors mainly, but I’ll shoot them an email tonight. Can’t hurt right? As for work I certainly have people I can count on. My manager’s a PhD and another manager I kinda do stuff for is a PhD from my Cal (actually there’s 3 guys with PhDs from materials engineering from Cal here), so I can certainly count on at least 1 LOR there. </p>
<p>This whole process is just a lot more daunting though because it’s not like undergrad (Esp UC apps where you just check off which school you want). Each app is a lengthy process that you need to work on thoroughly.</p>
<p>I’m curious how my chances are at a mid tier UC though like UCI or UCD.</p>
<p>I just feel like a failure if I have to hit SJ State because that’s almost a joke. You just fill out an app online send a transcript and you’re almost in. No GREs, no recs, etc. It’s easy, but I feel like I would disappoint myself and my parents (and of course I believe I’m worth more). Even if I fail to get into other better schools, at least I want to know I went down fighting.</p>
<p>what’s your field?</p>
<p>your gre score is fine for engineering, trust me i got much lower Verbal and AW than yours and i didn’t have any problem. no point to retake it for a few point increase. focus on your SOP instead</p>
<p>i am pretty sure ucd would take you, 3.0 is not stellar but from berkeley it’s not bad i think. plus now you got work experience too that helps a lot. just make sure to get great LOR</p>
<p>i am also a returning student after 3 years of work. i got 2 LOR from my bosses who are from Cal. then 1 from my undergrad prof that i took a few classes with but never really talked to. i actually took some time off to meet with him in person to ask questions about grad school. not just plainly asking for LOR the first time. i was surprised he still remembered me because of my good grades but heck that’s 3 years go he got pretty good memory. after 2 meetings i asked for a LOR and he is cool with it. but he doesn’t know me much so he asked me to write it for him and he would edit it. so it worked out in the end for me. but yeah getting LOR is a pain in the butt.</p>
<p>as far as the process goes, each school asks pretty much the same thing on the SOP and diversity essay. so i just used the same ones for each school. filling out the apps wasn’t too bad either. just start early and you will be fine</p>