<p>This forum has been tremendously helpful and I asked help earlier and got truly helpful views to set my career path. This time again, I am looking for help from you guys.</p>
<p>I did my B.Sc in Electrical Engineering with major in Power Systems. Unfortunately, I underperformed in my B.Sc and came out with very average GPA. However, in my last year of engineering(with all Power Systems courses), my GPA was 3.3. </p>
<p>I am doing a job in Oil & Gas company and will be having a solid 1 year project site experience in UAE. SO I am hopeful that this will be helpful in overshadowing my bad GPA a bit.</p>
<p>Other than my undergard(probably which matters the most for admit in graduate programs), my school and high school grades are pretty stellar(rank 3 and rank 5 among 20000 students respectively)</p>
<p>GRE and TOEFL I have to give as of yet and will probably be giving within a month or so. I am working hard and will come out with good score(I hope as I scored pretty well in mock tests). Will get good LOR's as well.</p>
<p>Funding is a BIG issue for me and I am having $20-$25k for my Masters. Here are the universities I have finalized to apply to:</p>
<p>1-ASU
2-Iowa State
3-UFL
4-University Of Texas, Dallas
5-University Of Cincinnati
6- NCSU
7- University Of Wisconsin Madsion</p>
<p>So please do help me in making my decision. Do you people suggest to take another year off and apply in 2014 to improve my chances? </p>
<p>Moreover, I do have plans to do job for few years in US before heading back to my country. Hence, post-MS job prospects(in Power Systems in particular) also value a lot for me.</p>
<p>Overall CGPA is 3.11 and my undergrad institute is hardest to get into in our country. To give you general idea about its reputation, many of my batch fellows went into Purdue, GaTech, TUM, University Of Waterloo last year.</p>
<p>Hi Jenzep. your thread caught my eye because of some similarities. </p>
<p>BS Electronic engineering here. Working in the petro-chemical / chemical industry. Looking to leave my job and get a Masters degree in EE from US. Aiming for Spring 2014. I had couple of important questions (read concerns) too, that i have just posted in my own thread. </p>
<p>Anyway since we both seem to be working towards same Masters degree i thought i would just drop by and say hello. and probably share our progress and compare notes along the way :).</p>
<p>From the timeline that i have seen, and the fact that you too, like me, have yet to give GRE and TOEFL / IELTS, i believe you will have to settle for a 2014 program. Since deadlines for 2013 have more or less passed. </p>
<p>From what i have seen so far, most of the colleges have asked for a CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0. but just to be sure, i would strongly suggest that you get in touch with the EE program advisers of the institutes that you have short listed and drop them an email. explain to them your situation and ask them for their opinion about your chances. That will give you definite picture of where do you stand.</p>
<p>No deadlines for Fall 2013 admissions that I’m aware of have passed. Programs generally don’t close applications until late December or early January of the year preceding. You would want to get the ball rolling now, but it’s not too late for next year.</p>
<p>^Thanks for your reply. I just wanted to have advice from you people. I know that admissions are far from now but I want you people to evaluate my chances.</p>
<p>@polarscribe, through this thread, I just want to see my position while applying for graduate schools in near future and also how would I stand out in the job market once I am done with Masters. </p>
1-2 years of work will not generally overshadow your GPA. Most schools will consider your undergrad GPA to be a dominant factor until you have been out of school for 5 years or more. The issue is really that work experience is not a good indicator of academic performance, so they are going to cling to whatever academic performance you have until they can no longer convince themselves that you are no longer the same person as you were when you went to school.</p>
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GRE and TOEFL scores can definitely keep you OUT of school but are relatively poor at getting you IN. Don’t stress too much about getting top scores but try to make sure you are at least average for the schools to which you are applying.</p>
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From who? A good LOR is not necessarily just one that says “Timmy was a great student and/or hard worker!” - the status and stature of the writer is extremely important.</p>
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I am not familiar with these programs, so I cannot offer any real advice here.</p>
<p>Thanks for your detailed post. I worked with 2 professors in my final year project and I am sure I will get good LOR’s from them.</p>
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Ok–It gets clear to me that my 2 year work experience won’t do a penny in helping me to overshadow my rather poor GPA. So what should I bank on now? I want to pursue my MS in US to be able to work over there and get more exposure before heading back. One could argue that management degree would probably help me more in my situation but the costs are a big constraint. So I am left with an MS option.
Will I really find it hard to get an admit even in mid-tier graduate program(some 30ish-50)? Should I really put a blanket on hope of getting any aid or waivers from graduate school?</p>
<p>I will try my best to have some relevant research experience to improve my chances.</p>
<p>
[quoteI want to pursue my MS in US to be able to work over there and get more exposure before heading back. One could argue that management degree would probably help me more in my situation but the costs are a big constraint. So I am left with an MS option.
[/quote]
Do whichever degree represents the kind of work you want - if you want to be an engineer, get the MS, if you want to manage, get a management degree after a few more years of experience.</p>
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A 3.11 does not put mid-tier programs out of reach, but grad admissions are always chancy - any given school might admit several students with GPA’s as low or lower than yours, and pass up several students will noticably higher GPA’s. The best you can do is apply to a wide range of schools and see which ones admit you. Just remember not to waste time applying to schools that you will not attend even with an admit - that sounds obvious, but nearly everybody does so.</p>
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No. Initial offers are almost always made predominantly to PhD students, and are more generous, but ANY student has a shot at an RA or TA position which will usually pay for a poverty-level standard of living (which is typical for grad students). It is quite likely you would pay for your first year out of pocket, but with good performance and effort you should be able to find funding for subsequent years at most schools.</p>
<p>OP-you are making a lot of assumptions based on your needs and not on the needs of the engineering industry. I would not assume that you could get a job here on a student visa. Check the other posts on CC and look at the numbers of people that can’t secure jobs in engineering right now. </p>
<p>The job market has not jumped back and you are assuming you will be employed by a US company that would be willing to sponsor your work visa. Most engineering firms have contracts with the government and require American citizenship with security clearances AND they are currently laying off. </p>
<p>If you don’t have a job before you graduate from a program here, your student visa will expire. My husband’s company does not hire international candidates because they can’t get security clearances. My neighbor who is an engineer, but has a green card, has been looking for 2 years and finally took a temporary position out of town. </p>
<p>Don’t make plans before researching what is available. Financial aid to international grad students is almost non-existent.</p>
<p>Yes–I am very much aware of struggling US economy. This is the reason I am waiting for another year to pass and then there will be another 2 year gap during which I will complete my MS. So most probably after 3 years, the situation won’t be as worse.</p>
<p>@PCHope</p>
<p>I have seen number of people getting into NCSU with 75% and my university converts my GPA into 77%. So do I still stand a very slim chance even at NCSU? Yes, UW is ambitious and probably the only v.amb university in my list. Your further comments and recommended univ. list for my profile would be welcome(I just want to let you know that this year, a student from my university got admitted into Gatech with 3.2GPA(no research experience, no paper, no experience)…</p>
<p>If your university has CONSISTENTLY sent students of similar qualifications to some schools (NC State, Georgia Tech, etc), then they should know the meaning of your GPA and the quality of your education. In this case, you should apply to these schools. Otherwise, you are not going to be very competitive for admission, let alone assistantship.</p>
<p>^I won’t say it is having any international recognition by any means but it is certainly hardest to get into in our country. That being said, to give you a general picture, that’s AVERAGE GPA of our session. This is the reason I selected mid-tier programs in my list and even those seem out of reach by your evals…:(</p>
<p>I heard that Cincinnati gives almost $15k scholarship to their admitted grads and some professors are doing good work over there in Power Systems(smart grids) which match my interests. Probably I stand a chance over there WITH that scholarship?</p>