Getting into a master's programs without recommendation letters?

Graduate School
1

Hi all,

I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona '14 with a B.S. in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics/Statistics Option. I have worked for a while and have really put some thought into my next decision, which is to go to graduate school in Mechanical Engineering.

My stats are as follows:
Cumulative: 3.08
Last 2 years: 3.08
Major: 3.0

GRE:
Verbal 156
Writing 4.5
Quant 166

I emailed all of the professors I thought could go to bat for me, but I could not get anyone to give me a recommendation letter in which I did well in. I did not talk at all to teachers unfortunately. Should I be drawing at this point out of desperation for professors who gave me C’s? I feel like that would just net me a rejection.

So I don’t know a teacher anymore that can give me a recommendation letter and most of the schools I’ve looked at ask for three.

I managed to get a job in programming and my supervisors think very well of me (I program financial and clinical reports for healthcare, which is OK, but I am starting to get depressed over getting stuck here)

So far, I have received one rejection from a CSU school (Cal Poly Pomona) and am waiting to hear back from another, CSU Long Beach.

I feel like my time at Cal Poly Pomona is not really reflective of what I can do. I am considering going back for a second degree in mechanical engineering, but I think it is quite expensive.

The universities that are close to me - University of Louisville and University of Kentucky – are not really where I want to end up, but I wouldn’t even be able to get in at this point without recommendation letters.

I want to go to a school that’s well-known for their engineering program and can get me the kind of connections to get into one of the big aerospace companies (Lockheed, Boeing, Northrop). I am trying to find an in where my skills fit for them even temporarily as a programmer (I am learning more programming languages on the side), but that’s not what I want to be. I would really like to work for a company like SpaceX, but I feel I have shot myself in the foot here.

I have thought about enrolling as a non-degree seeking student at University of Louisville and then getting recommendation letters from there, but I don’t know if I should do this or if there’s another way to achieve what I want.

2

Since you are coming from a non-Mechanical Engineering degree, you will have a lot of deficiencies to make up and given your GPA and lack of letters, you need to take some ME courses as a non-degree student at a nearby university and show that you can handle the material. This will also let you get to know some professors of engineering who can provide you with letters. One letter from your employer is fine for a Masters but you need theonters to be from academics.