<p>I am going to be a senior next year at Georgia Tech and am going to be applying for graduate schools in the fall. I am originally from California and kind of want to come back to my home state for graduate school. I plan to get a Pd.D eventually. I have already been accepted to gatech so if I do not get into any of the schools I am applying to, I can stay for another year in Atlanta and get a masters. Right now I plan on applying just to:</p>
<p>Stanford
Caltech
Berkeley
MIT</p>
<p>Are these schools too far of reaches and I am wasting my time since I can stay at Georgia Tech without doing any applications? I do want to try something different but I feel that if I apply to more schools I won't want to drop down to a lower ranking school.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Major: Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Undergrad Institution: Gatech
Overall GPA: 4.0</p>
<p>GRE Scores (just took the new test yesterday so I don't know the exact scores):
Q: 750-800
V: 520-620</p>
<p>Research Experience: One summer research position at UCSB, one semester in France with a Georgia Tech professor at Georgia Tech's Lorraine campus (I study abroad both semesters last year) and am currently doing a summer research project at Caltech.</p>
<p>Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Henry Ford II Scholar award (basically for having the highest GPA in my major)</p>
<p>Activities: Member of a Fraternity, Robotics Club, Volleyball Club team</p>
<p>LORS: I can get recs from all 3 of the professors I have done research with and they should be good.</p>
<p>Thanks for any input</p>
<p>If you want to be guaranteed of going somewhere besides GaTech next year, then you absolutely need to apply to more than those four schools. You’ve got yourself well-positioned, but those are all incredibly selective programs.</p>
<p>I graduated from Georgia Tech in AE last May with similar stats*. I got into Caltech, then got waitlisted and later accepted at MIT. I think you have a solid shot at all of those schools.</p>
<p>I’m starting at Caltech in September, how do you like it?</p>
<p>*4.0 (When I applied), 3 semesters of research (one on PURA), 800Q on GRE, coop at GTRI, LORs from research prof and GTRI boss</p>
<p>Georgia Tech is a really good school. I am wondering if that has an effect on admission to graduate school. How about coming from a lower ranked engineering college, such as Penn State?</p>
<p>thanks for the responses. The only reason I wasn’t thinking of apply to some other schools like UCLA or USC in California is that I would feel like its not a good idea to go from like Georgia Tech which I can already go to grad school for to a lower school. I am afraid that even if I get into those I wouldn’t go. But I don’t know if that is a stupid mindset.</p>
<p>And to answer j morgans question, </p>
<p>Caltech is so different than georgia tech in so many ways. The size makes it so like most of the administration knows the student by name which is very weird coming from an 18,000 person school like GT. Also the sports isn’t as big which is something I kind of think I will miss about being at Georgia Tech. But the weather is nicer and its good to get some different experiences. You will have a blast.</p>