-Hello everybody, I wish to keep this post short and to the point.
-Extremely interested in fluid mechanics.
-Wish to go to grad school to pursue a pHD in superfluidity or related to chemical engineering.
Currently undergraduate at Penn State UP.
Major: Chem Engineering
Minor: Mathematics
Cum GPA: 3.45, predicting ~3.5 by graduation.
Major GPA: 3.32
Minor GPA: 3.43
-Single semester worth of research experience with distinguished professor.
-Co-op with a “Forbes top 50” company.
-“B” in graduate level Transport Phenomenon class.
-GPA low due to freshman year “2.34”
-Dean’s List past 4 semesters. “GPA>3.5”
-Have not taken GRE yet.
- First choice school: UPenn
Do I have a chance? Which schools/programs am I most likely to get into?
You’ll be fine in general, though I don’t feel at all confident in giving you any sort of odds on Penn specifically. Just don’t bomb the GRE and I think you’ll have no problems. Your GPA is similar to what mine was when I originally applied and I had options when all the dust settled.
Out of curiosity, is there any particular reason you are so set on Penn? Is there a researcher there with whom you wish to work?
What have your professors told you? They know where people have been admitted in the past.
I may have been too specific, I’m still in the process of researching programs/professors. I have used Upenn as a fulcrum to weigh my credentials. Ideally I would love to stay at Penn State and earn my PH.D there, this is entirely due to a fantastic professor.
I’m not in engineering, but I am currently getting my PhD at UPenn. I’d say that your main problem might not be your GPA but your lack of research experience. After all, a PhD is very different from industry and it is a research degree. Can the adcom really know you’re well prepared for a PhD program from a single semester of research experience? Most letters of value for a PhD come from people that are familiar with your ability to conduct research. GPA/GRE can only take you so far, though I think you should do very well on the GRE to compensate for your slightly lower GPA.
Disclaimer: My advice is from the perspective of a cancer biology student, I don’t how well it translates to engineering.