For which grad schools will I be competitive?

Graduate School
1

(Rising senior, current mechanical engineering undergraduate major at University of Notre Dame)

GPA: 3.1 (upward-trending; I finally figured out how to study & do well junior year)

GRE: haven’t taken, but I am a strong standardized test taker (35 out of 36 on ACT in high school, which definitely helped compensate for my relatively low high school GPA). I am also resilient and determined when I want something…so assume the best-case scenario: that it is high

Activities: two summers engineering internship experience at an automotive company (one of the Big Three in Detroit); part-time internship during the schoolyear at a small engineering consulting start-up company; SAE Baja Design Team; Society of Women Engineers; STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Tutor/Mentor; volunteer at elementary school local to campus

Letters of Recommendation: assume they will be strong; I have numerous professors / supervisors (from work) who will probably happily recommend me.

Personal Statement: also assume strong; I am a strong writer, and good at communicating my thoughts/passions effectively/convincingly.

I want to either get an MS in Mechanical Engineering, or in something more specialized like tailored to industry / Product Development.

Thank you very much for your responses! I wasn’t even considering grad school until recently, so I am a little lost in the whole admissions process / were I stand.

2

For the record, I’m interested in:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Drexel University (Philadelphia)
University of Detroit Mercy
University of Michigan, Dearborn
Michigan State University
Case Western
Rose Hulman
Northwestern University
University of Notre Dame
…any other suggestions?

3

Take the GRE as soon as possible. Applications for the schools you are interested in are due in early 2016. Your GPA will be a negative although improvement in the last year or two will help somewhat.

Since you are going for an M.S. you may be able to get into the more selective schools for a self-funded professional degree. If you need to get funding, then you will need to apply to some less selective schools and even then it is not a sure thing to get funding.

Finally, if you are after a research-based degree, you will be at a bit of a disadvantage since you do not have research experience.

Have you considered working for a few years and then going back for the M.S.? given your strong internship record, you might be able to get into a company which will even pay for your M.S.