<p>I will be applying to EE PhD programs next fall. When I read others' stats here and gauge them against mine (without context), I get the impression that I am doing pretty well, but some issues still stick out. I have a 3.8 GPA, three research experiences at University of Maryland Baltimore County, Purdue University and MIT,although only the one at MIT may be directly related to my area of interest i.e. mechatronic/robotic control systems. I am a computer science major. I also have a paper published from my research at Purdue, although that was on electric vehicles energy efficiency. </p>
<p>What I am primarily disturbed about is the rigor of my undergraduate program and the relevance of my undergraduate background and research experiences to what I hope to do for my PhD. How do adcomms assess the relative rigor of undergraduate programs to judge a candidate's academic capability? There are about 3000 students in my school and from what I have read here, I am tempted to believe that our academic standard borders on being mediocre. What can I do to convince the adcomm that I am a quality student coming form this background? Or will they see me as too much of a risk to take on?</p>
<p>You’ll really want to focus on your research experiences—those seem to be key in grad school decisions, and how closely your interests match those of the faculty at the school you’re looking at. If you can get awesome letters of rec from professors, but most importantly from your research experiences, your GPA and a respectable GRE performance will be the most important. Unless your undergraduate institution is one that adcoms have NEVER heard of, you probably will be OK. It will be whether your letters of recommendation infer that you are able to take classroom knowledge (which you obviously have learned, based on GPA) and transform that knowledge to real-life research experiences. You could be from a “top ranked” undergrad school, but if you don’t have great LORs or research experience, it would be a difficult sell to research adcoms. They are looking for good candidates for their grad schools.</p>
<p>My gre is Q800 and V750. But i am pretty sure adcomms have not heard about my school. I hope i am wrong. Plus i am an international student. What can i do about my research interests not relating directly to my research experiences?</p>
<p>Is your school in the U.S.? If it is not, then I don’t think it will matter at all. Even if it is, the fact that you were invited to the various research experiences says that your grades and knowledge will probably carry you.</p>
<p>Grad school adcoms don’t care where a dead newsmagazine “ranked” your school. They care about your qualifications. You’re in great shape. Congrats on your achievements!</p>