<p>I have been thinking about Engineering Grad School. I never really thought about grad school when I was an undergraduate, so I kind of let my GPA go....</p>
<p>Major: Mechanical Engineering
GPA: 3.18
GRE: 163Q(780) 161V(620) Writing:4.0
Internships: 2 internships
Work Experience: Just finished my first year working as an engineer. </p>
<p>I am thinking about going back to grad school for engineering. If anyone has any thoughts or comments about any chances, it would be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Your GPA isn’t really that low for engineering unless you’re shooting for top 5-10 national programs (ie MIT, Stanford etc), sure it could be higher, but above a 3.0 won’t get you tossed out because of the GPA. Your GRE scores are low though.</p>
<p>You can retake the GRE’s but there are some schools in the Top-30 that do not require GRE’s and only ask for a 3.0 GPA. Those same schools will probably allow you to start off in “provisional” status which means that you can take up to 3 graduate engineering courses and if you get like a 3.5 GPA in them, the school will grant you full admission.</p>
<p>Here is the catch(s): 1)You probably have to choose the part-time/non-funded program. 2) Top-10 schools won’t allow this due to having so many qualified candidates applying.</p>
<p>I am exactly in the same condition as that of yours with exactly the same stats, barring the fact that I am an international which probably makes matters more worse for me.</p>
<p>@GLOBALTRAVELER</p>
<p>Is it possible that one can get some sort of funding in second year of MS? Spending for the entire 2-year program would almost be out of reach.</p>
<p>@OP
Sorry for hijacking your thread but I hope you will have the same query.</p>
<p>I cannot help you with that answer because it is the first time I heard of that scenario. I don’t know if funded programs are for full-time students starting their first class or if one can apply for scholarships after X amount of graduate credits. I am more familar with part-time/distance graduate programs using employer money.</p>
<p>Can you please name a few of those schools. i’m currently in the phase of shortlisting colleges to apply to and this information will definitely come in handy. Thanks.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Where did you have your BS? How strict was the grading? This will play a role in evaluating your application.</p></li>
<li><p>While your GREs are not outstanding, they are good enough for any school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>University of Wisconsin, says GRE is not weighed heavily plus states that average GRE is 1200 which Pirates301 is clearly above and ranked 13th in Mechanical.</p>
<p>Hi @Pirates0301. I just finished a three year term as Associate Dean for Graduate Admissions at [Illinois</a> Institute of Technology](<a href=“http://www.iit.edu%5DIllinois”>http://www.iit.edu) and while your GPA is not as high as our departments would like, your GRE is fine. They just changed the scoring this year and now the scores for the Quantitative part have been spread out because there was no differentiation at the top. You have 88% in quantitative and 89% in verbal and that is actually very unusual for an engineer or physics major (the verbal that is!).</p>
<p>What kind of graduate program are you interested in? If it is for a masters of the professional kind (no thesis) you will get into quite good programs. If you are interested in a Ph.D. you might have to prove yourself in a M.S. program first. In general engineering programs appreciate the work experience in their graduate students, unlike physics, for example. Depending on your undergraduate program, you would have a good chance of getting into IIT.</p>
<p>Hi @Jenzep. We have a lot of international students who come for the first year on their own money. If they are in a research M.S. program where there is a thesis, they sometimes are able to obtain funding for the second year during their research portion, particularly if they get good grades and pass any comprehensive examinations that might be required for the program. There also my be an occasional Teaching Assistantship (part or full time) available. However, most universities try to use research and teaching assistantships to support Ph.D. students primarily.</p>
<p>My undergraduate was done at the University of Notre Dame. Does the undergraduate school have a lot of influence on Graduate School admissions ?</p>
<p>While Notre Dame might not be at the top of the engineering world, it does have an overall good reputation which will help your admission. I’d think that you should have a fairly good chance with IIT, but not much so with Wisconsin (PhD programs).</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for giving me the info. Do ALL or majority of them manage second year funding somehow in IIT? Can one bank on it if one can afford the first year?</p>
<p>@OP</p>
<p>You should definitely look ASU as I have heard that they good mechanical grad program and your GRE is also find considering their admit trend this year.</p>
<p>I cannot speak for all of the engineering programs but in physics, we do offer second year masters students support if they show promise to possibly enter the Ph.D. program. I know that all departments at IIT like to support their Ph.D. students from the beginning with Ta or RA positions. It helps if you make contact with the department and find a faculty member who would be interested in you as a researcher.</p>