I recently graduated from a SUNY university with a B.E in Engineering Science. I am currently thinking about doing masters for mechanical engineering and I was wondering what would my chances be in being admitted in Cooper Union for this field? I did not do my undergrad at Cooper and I’ve heard that they tend to just admit people who’ve done undergrad there into their masters programs. My GPA isn’t great as I played around too much in my first few years but I managed to get it back up to around a 3.0, which was at least a average GPA of B+/A- for a few semesters straight. I do have some internship experiences and am planning to take the GRE soon. On a tight deadline so I am hoping I will be satisfied with my scores on the first try.
Also, I am wondering how difficult would it be to be admitted into other masters programs from universities such as Cornell, Columbia, maybe Rice, etc? Would my GRE scores need to be in the, let’s say 90+ percentile to even be considered in most schools like these since my GPA isn’t great? Or should I instead mostly just consider schools that are not as known for their engineering programs?
What does your undergrad advisor suggest you do? Go back to your old department and chat up a few of the professors there. They will be able to tell you where other people from your program with grades like yours have been admitted.
Honestly, my undergrad adviser is not the best. Our department has too little people handling everything and my adviser sometimes never replies to emails. Deciding to pursue grad school was something that was done after I have graduated. Also, going back onto campus would be difficult as I do not live in the area. But most of the people in my major who went to grad ended up staying in the same school, which is something I do not want to do as it would be nice for a change in scenery and possibly be able to attend somewhere with a much better program.
The Cooper Union is not exactly known for its graduate program. It is obviously very well-known as an undergraduate institution, but that tends to be their focus. It may very well be that their relatively small MS program is geared only toward their own undergraduates, but I don’t know much about it specifically, so perhaps those are better questions for their admissions department. For whatever it’s worth. [their site](Master's Degree Requirements | The Cooper Union) does not imply that it is open only to their own undergraduates.
Is your goal to basically stop after the MS or are you considering continuing on for a PhD afterward?
Thank you for your input! I will contact them if i end up having any more questions.
My ultimate goal is to continue and complete a PhD. But as of now, I am just unsure where to start as I only have field experience and my GPA isn’t great. I did receive good grades in my more advanced major courses, it was just mostly my first few years.
Honestly, I would broaden your search to other schools. Find those that are strong in the area of research that interests you and go after those. Since your goal is a PhD, I’d suggest avoiding programs that don’t have PhD programs.