<p>Hi everyone.</p>
<p>I just graduated from a top five university with a B.S. in Mexhanical Engineering and am considering applying to grad schools for next years spring or fall semesters. My profile pretty much looks like this:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.05. This is probably the weakest part of my application. My major GPA is even worse ( around 2.8). However I went to an extremely rigorous university with a low average GPA ( my 3.05 was enough to get me on the dean's list and 3.15 is graduating with honours). My GPA also improved significantly over my last two years (2.9, 3.2, 3.8 and 4.0).</p>
<p>Gre Scores: Q:164, V169, W: 5</p>
<p>Recommendations:
1 excellent ( I'm assuming) recommendation from a professor in my field whom I did research with.
1 good to excellent recommendation from a professor in my field.
1 supportive but not extremely strong letter from a professor in my field ( alternatively this can be substituted by an excellent recommendation from a professor not in my field).</p>
<p>I also have two relevant internships and a bunch of extracurriculars.</p>
<p>I know that my low GPA means that a top ten program is probably out of the question. But what about some moderately ranked programmes (say 20-50)? If anyone could give me some advice on what caliber of schools I should consider, I'd really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance and apologies for the long post.</p>
<p>Edit: I took many ME electives in my last year that the college didn't include in my major GPA but included in my overall GPA. </p>
<p>Your GRE scores are good but probably the equal of most applicants at the more selective schools (i.e. top 50 or so). Extracurriculars and internships are not as important as research experience and you need to get the best letters you can irrespective of your field. You can certainly apply to one or two of the kinds of programs that you mentioned but you have to include some less selective programs too to hedge your bets. </p>
<p>Talk to the professor you have been doing research with and ask his/her advice on which schools to apply to and where you would fit in best. You might even get him/her to make a phone call to get your applications noticed.</p>
<p>Masters of PhD program?
USNWR has rankings for MS ME and also MS ME online programs. </p>
<p>Thanks for the replies.
Its for an MS program.
xraymancs, can you tell me what you mean by less selective programs? Any specific schools? Im really not sure where I should be applying and any help I can get would be great.</p>
<p>I find it interesting that your focus is mechanical engineering but your GRE Q score is lower than your V score.</p>
<p>Yeah I was pretty surprised about that. Do you think taking it again and getting a better quant score will improve my chances? 164 is already in like the 89th percentile.</p>
<p>I have no idea. 164 is a very good score.</p>
<p>I think not, not in the context of schools you can get into with a 3.05.</p>
<p>Selective programs are usually the “top” ones by whatever metric you use. They get a lot of applications and select only a few to admit. You can see the various schools ranked by whatever criteria you choose at <a href=“http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/mechanical-engineering”>http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/mechanical-engineering</a> These rankings are based on the latest National Research Council data which is not terribly recent but it will give you a good idea. </p>
<p>Hi everyone. Thanks for the advice. I was just wondering if taking some graduate level classes as a non degree student would be of any help. Assuming I do well in them, would it demonstrate to admissions committees that I can handle graduate level work?</p>
<p>Yes, I imagine it can certainly help (assuming you do well in them, of course!).</p>
<p>And going back to the slightly older posts in this thread on the GRE, I wouldn’t recommend retaking it. Those are excellent scores. I also had a very similar score breakdown with a higher verbal score than quantitative. This suggests that you’re one of those engineers who can communicate well, especially in writing, which will be very helpful when you’re writing SOPs and application essays.</p>
<p>Do you plan to do a thesis MS or coursework MS?</p>