Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree: Keeping Expectations in Check

Graduate School
1

Hello, thanks for viewing this thread.

The purpose of this thread is to help me cement my expectations for graduate school and figure out what exactly I am looking for.

I am currently a Junior Mechanical Engineering student at an ABET accredited 4 year university, getting my bachelor’s degree. I currently have a GPA of 3.66, and I have not yet taken the GRE.

I have three full-time summer engineering internships under my belt at a reputable medical device manufacturing company. Last summer I did a research project which was shown at an undergraduate symposium. This summer I will be working at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a 10-week internship. As a side note, I am most interested in mechanical engineering, but I also have a great interest in computer programming and electrical engineering.

I am passionate about engineering and I am willing to work hard to obtain a satisfying job in the future. The job that I am most interested in is R&D at a place like Valve Software or JPL. In order to get there, it appears that a Master’s Degree would be a good investment.

Now for the discussion:

I know that I want to go to graduate school, but are my GPA and internships impressive enough to get into somewhere like Stanford? What are my chances of getting into somewhere like USC or UCSD? Would you recommend that I check out any other schools? Are there any other things that I should be doing to improve my chances? Does anyone have any good general advice?

Thank you.

2

Since you’re interested in R&D, are you thinking of doing a thesis-based MS?

3

hey maybe JPL will keep you on. do a great job and you never know… I saw a ME undergrad job listing there several mos ago (didn’t say masters but open to new grads of both undergrad and masters.) And if they want you to have a masters, then tell them you are applying to grad school and ask to intern there again (before you leave for the summer) so you will be contacted. Of course, only if you like it and want to be there after you get the masters.

4

Thanks for the advice, cali60. I hope that’s what happens this summer.

I am definitely considering a thesis-based MS.

5

Based off all that you’ve said, I firmly believe that you’ll be able to get into any of those programs that you just mentioned. Your GPA is solid, you have research experience, and you have a lot of real-world experience.

To show some sort of comparison, I got into several of the top BME programs. I also have a solid GPA, some research experience (which amounted to nothing), and absolutely no real-world experience. I understand that you can’t really compare admissions in completely different fields, but I just wanted to attempt to show you that you’re a highly qualified MS candidate that should not worry about getting into top tier programs.

6

Thanks for the reply, CluelessPotato. That definitely makes me feel less stressed-out about trying to raise my gpa. What field are you in?

7

I don’t think anybody can say you’ll definitely get into any of those programs–that will depend mostly on things like the nature of your research work, how well you fit the needs of potential advisors (assuming you’re going the thesis route), the strength of your recommendation letters, and your GRE scores. But you seem like a solid candidate, based on what you’ve posted here, and I imagine you’ll have a solid shot.