Grad School Admission Help (Industrial Eng.)

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>Grad School Admission Help
I'm a senior at Purdue's School of Industrial Engineering and I'm graduating in August 2009 with a GPA of 3.25.</p>

<p>I'm interested in doing Grad School in the same field and was thinking what my options are given my not so impressive GPA. Some other important things:</p>

<p>*I haven't taken GRE yet and I'm currently preparing for it. Though I'll aim for the best, what is the minimum score required to guarantee admission into at least one of the top 20 schools?</p>

<p>*I had to withdraw from my Spring 2007 semester due to a family emergency and therefore, I have a list of Ws. Should I address this issue on my statement of purpose?</p>

<p>*My last GPA over the last two years for each semester with number of credit hours in brackets -
Fall 2007: 2.75 GPA (12 credit hrs)
Spring 2008: 2.75 GPA (12 credit hrs)
Summer 2008: 4.0 GPA (9 credit hrs)
Fall 2008: 3.7 GPA (18 credit hrs)
Spring 2009: 4.0 GPA (21 credit hrs)
Summer 2009: 4.0 GPA (3 credit hrs) - most definitely</p>

<p>*So, my performance really shot up during my last year at Purdue. Does this help?</p>

<p>*I do not want to continue at Purdue at all costs. I'm sick and tired of this place.</p>

<p>*I do not have research experience. I did internship with Dow Chemicals during the summer of 2009.</p>

<p>*And finally, I'm not a US citizen but I want to continue studying in this country.</p>

<p>To end, I'm really interested in doing grad school since I really want to learn more. Also, another factor motivating me to do grad school is the fact that my undergrad cumulative GPA does not reflect my true potential.</p>

<p>I'll be very glad if I can get some useful tips and which schools to apply to.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Virginia Tech
Texas A&M University–College Station</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>For IE, around a 780 math. There’s very little room for error on the Math score.</p>

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<p>Its funny because i am in a very similar situation as you are. Got 2.9-3.0 GPA my first 2 years and shot it up to 3.7 GPA my final two years.</p>

<p>I already applied to many schools for Spring 2010 admissions for masters in IE, more than half of them only wanted me to report my last 60 credits worth of GPA, which you have about a 3.8 in so your good to go for such schools, even at 3.25 overall GPA it is still competitive for most schools in the top 15 for graduate IE.</p>

<p>GRE is important, it will make or break your app, to be competitive a 750+ is required in math, and you need over 450 in English.</p>

<p>Some things to consider, if you plan to start spring there are going to be a few schools knocked off your list within the top 15.</p>

<p>Such as University of California Berkley which doesn’t accept Spring students. </p>

<p>I cut Georgia Tech and University of Michigan because it was too competitive for my stats.</p>

<p>Northwestern University (McCormick) doesn’t have a MS program, only accepts Phd in Fall.</p>

<p>Stanford doesn’t have Spring admissions for graduate IE.</p>

<p>Cornell usually only accepts MS students in Fall, quote “spring admission is typically limited to applicants who are already at Cornell and have been able to participate in project start-up activities that take place in the fall semester”</p>

<p>Whats left?</p>

<p>Texas A&M University–College Station (Look)
-Awesome program! Tons of classes to choose from, prestigious for engineering, can’t go wrong. #8 USNR</p>

<p>Virginia Tech
-Good program, they kind of frown against Spring admits but worth a try, they jumped to #4 from #9 last year on the USNR, something to think about</p>

<p>University of Wisconsin
-I remember researching this program, it was solid, just cut it from my list because its in Wisconsin (no offense to anyone :slight_smile: ) #10 on USNR</p>

<p>University of Southern California

  • Solid school with an EXCELLENT acceptance rate, I’m talking 50%+!, tons of international students in the graduate program, it is a HUGE program, I’m talking 100-300 student classrooms, i hear its less rigorous than other similarly ranked programs (again no offense) #13-15 on USNR</p>

<p>Pennsylvania State University–University Park

  • Solid school, no complaints, #5 on USNR, and boasts the Oldest Industrial department in the U.S. (over 80 years if i remember!)</p>

<p>North Carolina State University
-Solid School, small program, #13-15 on USNR</p>

<p>University of Florida
-Solid School, good weather, awesome social scene, hoping i get in this one, #13-15 USNR</p>

<p>University of Texas
-Solid school, big name, does not have a dedicated IE deparment, it is part of Mechanical Engineering #17-20 on USNR</p>

<p>Arizona State University

  • Good solid safety school, #19-21 USNR</p>

<p>Ohio State University

  • Good Solid Safety School, #19-21 USNR</p>

<p>There, 10 good schools to think about. I applied to 4 on the list above and Purdue. Can i ask why you disliked Purdue? It might help narrowing down my choices when the time comes. Thanks!</p>

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<p>aalba,</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for the help.</p>

<p>Purdue is a nice school and some of the professors here are excellent. However, some of my friends currently doing masters in IE at Purdue complain about the fact that some of Purdue’s distinguished faculty has left the university recently for various reasons. Because of this, Purdue hired some assistant profs who had just completed their PhDs and this has had an adverse impact on Purdue’s rankings. Otherwise the university is quite good.</p>

<p>I enjoyed my first 2 years at Purdue a lot. But then I got bored of this place since there isn’t much to do here apart from studying and partying. Well, it was a blessing in disguise since I did well in my remaining semesters and pushed my GPA up. But I don’t think I want to spend another 2 years here doing Masters. </p>

<p>Anyways, best of luck with your grad school applications.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>