<p>hey guys I'm a mechanical engineer with a gpa around 3.2 right now (from NJIt, a mediocre college)</p>
<p>I want to get into top grad school like (MIT, georgia tech, michigan...etc)</p>
<p>yes I know 3.2 won't really get me there but, if I work hard, I might be able to get to 3.5 this final year.</p>
<p>Do you think I'll have a chance at these school if I get straight A's for the last 2 semester in senior year even if my gpa does not reach 3.5 at the end?</p>
<p>thank you</p>
<p>Do you have any research experience?
Good letters of recommendation?
GRE scores?</p>
<p>Oh yah I forgot to mention that I need to stay extra semester after my senior year</p>
<p>because I still need to take few more required courses.</p>
<p>I’m thinking about taking GRE sometime in senior semester and about the research </p>
<p>experience. I’m thinking about going for masters instead of phd (I heard master rarely </p>
<p>looks at research experience). Since I’m staying for extra semester after senior year, I am
planning to get some reserarch experience during summer.</p>
<p>Masters programs still care about research experience if it is a thesis-based (research-based) Masters program. You have approximately zero chance at the top schools with a GPA in that range and no research experience.</p>
<p>Your chances may be small, but I don’t necessarily think it’s impossible. You should visit each school’s websites and look for admission requirements. Some schools advertise a minimum GPA. Many schools also advertise statistics for the previous year’s admitted students such as their average GPAs and average GRE scores. In my experience, the admitted students’ average GPAs are usually much higher than the required minimum GPA.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s all that important that you get into a top 10 school. If you can raise your GPA up to a 3.5 or so and you get your requisite letters of rec, you should be able to get into a strong masters program somewhere.</p>
<p>so my chances are still going to be small even if I do end up with 3.5 gpa?</p>
<p>Won’t sudden upward trend such as getting straight A’s for the whole senior year get me </p>
<p>a better chance at being accepted?</p>
<p>At those schools the average GPA will be 3.8 to 3.9 or so in all likelihood and most if not all will have research experience.</p>
<p>Well, I’m assuming you’re applying your senior year 1st semester? If so, then you probably won’t have any grades on your transcript for your senior year @ time of application. You might have 1st semester’s, but definitely not the second.</p>
<p>If you don’t have the grades to get into grad school NOW but able to obtain employment, just wait until you have some work experience under your belt and apply again. For some graduate programs, the more experience you have reduces the GPA requirement. Hell, my M.S. degree is from University of Wisconsin which is ranked high for I.E. (the department for systems engineering) and I was admitted with the following GLOWING undergraduate record:</p>
<ul>
<li>sub 3.0 gpa</li>
<li>math/cs major</li>
<li>no GRE test</li>
</ul>
<p>Now I did take 3 courses as a “non-degree grad student” (and aced them) before applying.</p>
<p>I am telling you not to aim for that 3.5 GPA and sooner admission to grad school but you would be amazed how work experience, employer tuition benefits, employer agreements factor into graduate admissions.</p>
<p>@clandry like I said, I need to stay extra semester; meaning, I’m gonna stay for another fall semester after I finish my senior year. I don’t know if I’m gonna graduate fall semester or just take more classes in spring semester to boost up the gpa.</p>
<p>@GLOBALTRAVELER doesn’t research matter more for the graduate admission? What kind of things did you have in your resume?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not if you chose the non-thesis version of the M.S. degree.</p>
<p>For many non-research positions, employers really do not care about past research.</p>
<p>Why MIT?..with your GPA of 3.2 from unknown and a mediocre college, it is next to impossible to get in there. Then again, competition to join their grad school is very tough as lots of kids with high credentials want to go there. But, if you so insist to go there then give MIT a call and find out for yourself or perhaps you can browse the MIT forum?..Good luck.</p>