<p>Hi I am currently studying chem and physics at lac school. I am an international student who wants to go to materials engineering graduate school in the US. I really don't know which schools I should apply because my gpa is not that good(it is 3.2 now), if I try hard, I can have ~3.35 gpa by the time I graduate school. But, I have 2.5 years of research(all material science/ chemical engineering research) and I have one small publication(as a first author). I think my research experience is okay or above average, but, my gpa is pretty low. My latest GRE scores are 780/800(math)/5.5, and I have two good recommendations. I am worried about graduate schools since I am not engineering major, my gpa is low. I got five Cs in my first two years and I was frustrated with my old grades. I did much better from my junior year and got all As except one A-s this past year, but, it didn't really help pull up my gpa. One of my dream school is UC Berkeley MSE grad program. Is it impossible to get into berkeley bc of my gpa? Should I have one extra year research/work experience in engineering field to get into good schools? Please give me advice on my situation. Thank you.</p>
<p>Your GRE scores are great, and your research experience is definitely a plus. You’ll definitely want to get that GPA as high as possible as I believe the cut off for many graduate programs is around a 3.0-3.2 GPA. I know linking to other websites is against rules but you should check out thegradcafe.com. They have an engineering section where people post their stats (GPA, research experience, etc. ), the schools they have applied to, and whether or not they were accepted. It’s definitely a good resource to use to gauge where you fit into the whole grad school maze.</p>