<p>I'll be graduating as aerospace engineering this year(fall quarter), and want to continue studying after graduation. I'll apply this fall to graduate schools.</p>
<p>problem is that I have done almost nothing related to my major outside of my class. the only thing I have is a good gpa(3.7+). I haven't taken the GRE test yet.</p>
<p>Lately, I found out that ucla has a program that takes undergrad students who have 3.5+gpa into grad school, but I don't want to stick around here for another 2 years. I can't stand the traffic anymore. anyway, at this point what should I and ca I do to enhance my admission?? I'm interested in doing masters programs.</p>
<p>If you haven’t taken the GRE yet, then you can’t apply for Fall 2012 anyway. Are you trying to apply for Fall 2013?</p>
<p>I don’t think the traffic should be a deciding factor on where you go to grad school. I could understand that you don’t want to stick around UCLA any longer, but you should consider it along with other options.</p>
<p>Anyway, you should definitely get some research experience - 1-2 years should be sufficient for master’s programs. Also see if you an snag an internship. You could also take 2-3 years and actually work in engineering before going back for your MS.</p>
<p>Well… I started my research in the same semester as my applications and still got into a few top schools in EE. Obviously rejected from MIT, Stanford PhD but that was to be expected. I had a strong background since I finished up all the graduate coursework in my area though.</p>
<p>BTW - visiting UCLA pretty soon. Is it that bad? Traffic alone would drive you away?</p>
I’ve also lived at UCLA for a couple of years and don’t understand the op’s problem. Yes, traffic is extremely bad if you have to commute during rush hour and so on. But I don’t see why you would get caught in traffic very much if you’re a UCLA student and live close to campus, if not on-campus.</p>
<p>Sure, sometimes you’ll have to run errands or won’t be able to avoid the traffic because of your appointments. Sometimes it freaked me out as well. But it really doesn’t happen that often and I never even once considered moving away because of traffic. In fact, I by far prefer the UCLA environment to other campuses I’ve been to.</p>
<p>
Just wondering, did you get your name on any publications/papers because of this? How long exactly did you do research for? I assume you get rec letters from the people you did research with? Sorry for so many questions but I’m in a bit of a similar situation (I already graduated last year and only have couple of months to catch up on research before applying)</p>
<p>I only had a few months research experience by the time I sent in my applications, so no publications. My advisor did really like me though so I’m sure his letter was good. I had done some previous general engineering work for another professor and my 3rd LoR was from industry where I did some vaguely relevant work. Anyway, I heard schools don’t count LoR’s that much since all the decent applicants will have glowing LoR’s. Like I said, my transcript was good since I had already taken a bunch of grad courses and would nearly be done with the equivalent of a Master’s.</p>
<p>In the months after my application my research was on much more solid ground and enough to start designing a test chip for tape-out. The few professors that got through the barebones research on my application and contacted me were very interested once they found that out. But not having much research experience is bad in terms of getting fellowships or good funding packages since those are quite competitive.</p>
<p>Thanks awvvu, that certainly gives me hope. I’m applying to Master’s rather than PhD programs which means that research experience will be even less important. Still, based on other forums and applicant profiles it seems like people who got into top Master’s programs all had a significant amount of research under their belt. Anyway, sorry for hijacking the thread, please go ahead with the original discussion ;)</p>
<p>anyway, would u say 3,7+gpa from my major(aerospace engineering) considered decent when applying to good schools in my field, like UIUC, UMAA, MIT? Ill apply for MS degree(aerodynamics or astrodynamics).</p>