<p>I have a bit of a story to tell before letting folks pounce on ripping my dreams from the statistical averages. :D I want to collect some opinions about my chances nonetheless...</p>
<p>I went to UC Santa Barbara, where I got my B.S. in electrical engineering with a focus on materials science (there is not undergrad matsci major) and analog circuit design. I pushed hard, and I mean HARD: I took the full E.E. coursework, as well as additional electives in organic chemistry, biomaterials, and thermofluidics. I did research my sophomore year at NASA Ames (remotely while at school as well while using the university's resources to coopt), research my junior year with a nanofluidics group, and research my senior year with a biomimetic nanosystems group. I re-founded the student IEEE chapter, raised ~$4000, and created a legacy of strong membership (this took the latter three years). </p>
<p>I also fell sick. I mean really sick. I mean "put-on-medical-opiates-for-months" sick. The fallout was severe adrenal crash, chronic fatigue, non-existent immune response, hallucinations, and eventually the depressive suffering equivalent to PTSD. I held on as best I could academically and otherwise, but my last quarter there, i failed an upper div class in optical fiber physics, barely scrapped through my other two courses, graduated, and hit the "pause" button on my life. My GPA was now a 3.1, and my GRE's were a foggy Q750 V580. Not horrible, but not high-caliber either. I needed to get better before even thinking about more school, and I didn't just have the money to sit around and do that.</p>
<p>Since hitting that button I have lived a lifetime recovering over the course of just a year and a half. I had some serious medical treatment, spent gross amounts of time meditating and exercising, and now finally look healthy again. In that time, I was picked up by Lockheed Martin, who threw me in a research engineering position only a month into my employment when they realized i made a bad drone-worker (im a pretty creative guy :D). After a year (now a half year ago), I was awared an LM Inventors Award for generating three patents for an advanced MEMS device, and have been serially promoted as my research contributions have escalated. I'll be honest, it's nice to be paid so well for my age, and to be the only non-Phd working at Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center, but this is not where I want to be. This is not the kind of science I am passionate about, and as I am elevated further, I find myself falling away from the technical work i both love and prosper doing. </p>
<p>And now my great escape: I am applying to graduate schools, somewhat last minute, in Materials Science or related fields depending on program offerings. When I think of some of the tech I have worked on in the last year and a half, I don't even consider my education an object of validation, but this applications process has me worried about it. Should I explain to the admissions commitees what happened to me? Should I just float on my numbers and focus on the great research I've done? I have 5 recommenders, three of which are from Lockheed, who all suggest different things.</p>
<p>So I'll crowdsource it. What are my chances? What should I do as far as my mediocre GPA and GRE due to illness? What do you think?</p>