I’ve been reading replies and I am pretty much a huge outlier
ACT: 32
EE major, Nanotech minor: 2.8
Needless to say im not a super mega star with GPA, at the same time though I can prove that your GPA here in the engineering school is not all that matters. For the past 1.5 years now(including summer) I have worked in a job at one of the research institutions at Vanderbilt as a technician, this summer I am doing research through another fairly prestigious and renown group at Vanderbilt and will continue into the semester as independent research credit. I got to the spot I am now by supplementing my low scores with a lot of work ethic and ambition, because for as impressive as a high GPA is, seeing someone work their butts off too speaks volumes(I jumped 1 entire GPA point, yes I was THAT low. Freshman year was tough for me), improvement counts. Every chance I got I re took classes and aced them, all the while working to pay for those classes, and that shows that, even though you had a rough semester or two, you don’t give up and have a lot of passion.
Also in this world, connections speak volumes. My personal mentor is a professor I randomly emailed the summer before coming to Vanderbilt and ever since then we have spoken and gone to lunch every once in a while, he has written all of my recommendations too, he also happens to be the founder of the research collaboration I currently work under(Curious coincidence isn’t it?), he even knew and personally emailed people from a program I applied to across the country. Heck, even being bold enough to just ask goes a long way too(I got a D in the class originally of the professor I work under, but later re took it and got an A).
Tbh the hardest part is getting people to give you a chance, but once you’ve gotten that chance it doesn’t matter what numbers were on a piece of paper, you know your stuff then you know your stuff(my PI has always said that worry more about whats on the test material then the grades because that is far more important). Yes focus on your grades, but its not the end all be all, and when you finally get where you want to go, its not going to save or help you when you need to do actual, you know, ENGINEERING.
Have faith in yourself!