<p>Hi I hope you all are doing great. :)</p>
<p>I am a 19 year old Electronics Engineering student from Pakistan and will be starting my Junior year in university this fall. I'd like to present some background information first.</p>
<p>I initially wanted to head out to US for my undergrad however that never happened and I ended up applying and getting into the best university for engineering in my country and ranked 250 world wide. The university only admits 3000 or so students of the total 50,000 that appear for the entrance test. It has numerous different campuses spread over the country. I got into one such campus.</p>
<p>I did okay in my first semester, getting a 3.1 GPA. However I did rather badly in my second semester due to depression and got 2.5. In third and fourth semester I got 3.14 and 3.11 respectively. I have been going through a lot of posts on this forum and compared to what most of the people are posting...My GPA pales in comparison. Fact is we have a very small class (25 people) and a relative grading system which makes it very hard to get a good GPA. Not to mention the number of courses and the courses each semester are fixed which means you can NOT pick or drop courses as per your liking. To give you an idea of this...Only 6 people got a 3.0+ GPA in the fourth semester. Now I have done some calculations and even if I get at least 3.5 the next four semesters...My GPA is still not going to be very impressive. And that is quite disheartening to say the least.</p>
<p>We don't get any research opportunities like you people do over there in the states. But outside the class room, due to my interest I constantly aim to learn things that haven't yet been taught. I self-taught myself about microcontrollers in the 3rd semester when actually we are supposed to be taught about them in 5th semester. I made a microcontroller based line following robot from scratch using discrete components all on my own. I have made a microcontroller based intelligent water level detection using a self fabricated sensor design. Right now I am working on a 5 DOF robotic arm with computer vision and plan to write a research paper about it. I am not saying all this to impress you people (heck what will I get out from it?). Just telling all this to tell you how passionate I am about my field and that I am doing everything in my capacity to get more exposure.</p>
<p>Now coming to my predicament. I really, really want to do masters from the US right after I graduate. I am confident that I will be able to get a decent enough score in the GRE. But I am worried that my poor GPA and lack of research will really hold me back and I won't be considered for admission into any of the good graduate schools. Let alone get any funding...</p>
<p>I remember reading in the "International Applicants" section of a university's website that international students have a different criteria. Like it mentioned it required domestic students to have at least 3.5 but said the same wasn't required from an international applicant. That in the case of an international applicant the ranking of the university they attended for undergrad was a deciding factor and that the GPA should be "good".</p>
<p>Some might say it is too early for me to worry about these things but I think it is the right time to start worrying! I need to start shortlisting the universities...Prepare for the tests...And what use would that be if I have no chance of getting in at all?</p>
<p>I apologize for such a long post. But if you have read it all - Thank you! Any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated. :)</p>