Grad School

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Perhaps I am posting in the wrong forum, but there are a couple of general questions I would like answered. </p>

<p>A little background:</p>

<p>Going into high school, I knew that I would like to attend a good (perhaps ivy level) university in my college years. Unfortunately, as a rather naive freshman, I was under the impression that grades were the bottom line. Effectively, I believed that academic excellence alone would put me in a top tier school. Stupidly, at the urging of others, I joined the band in my first year at school. This eliminated (more or less) my potential involvement in my areas of true interest, engineering and the sciences. Through a combination of apathy, ignorance, time constraints (band), and poor decisions, I did not take advantage of summer opportunities well within my abilities- formal research, internships, and the like - for I did not understand that they were necessary. To greater compound the issue, my lack of interest became apparent sophomore year and I dropped out of band, even though I had received numerous distinctions. I therefore had no demonstrated areas of continued interest (organizationally at least) throughout high school. All the while, until junior year, no one had really told me for what colleges were looking - things I had not truly showed. I had a fairly deep passion, computer programming, but independent experimentation aside, I had little of value to put forth on college applications. </p>

<p>To get to my question, then, what does one need to get into a top level grad school? I anticipate the fact that, right now, I cannot be sure that graduate school is what I should aim for, but nonetheless, what is necessary? GPA certainly plays a role, I'm sure, along with the GREs, yet do grad schools look for the same "activities" that are expected of high school students? What about the importance of essays? I will certainly become involved in research, but are clubs and student organizations necessary as well? By the way, I am thinking Engineering grad school (hence this forum). I would simply like to be prepared, beginning college, and not repeat some mistakes of my past. I thank the reader for any response; this post did ramble a bit too much for my taste.</p>

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<p>Grad school acceptances in engineering is nothing like acceptances for college. Not even close. Undergrad admissions look for well-rounded individuals and people who are unique. Grad admissions look for people who have a focus on a specific field. Grades are important, but the GREs are not as critical as the SAT's. While a bad GRE score can keep you out, a good one won't get you in. Grad schools also look for the people who fit the best with their faculty and area of expertise/research. If what you want to do isn't what that university does, they probably won't accept you even if you're qualified in every other way. This is especially true for PhD admissions. Not sure about master's. </p>

<p>My advice is to focus on your area of concentration. Perhaps doing internships or research will be helpful. If you're aiming for a PhD, research is pretty important. If you're unsure about whether or not you want to go to grad school, apply for internships. Not only do you get real-world experience, but you'll be able to make connections and also figure out if your major is something you're actually interested in or if you should do something else. It can't hurt to be involved in the professional society associated with your engineering major. ASCE for civil engineers, ASME for mechanical, IEEE for electrical, AiChE for chemical, etc. Student membership fees are either very low or free.</p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>