<p>Hi everybody!!! Just joined this amazing forum!
I am a 20 years old Italian student and I am currently doing my Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering in the UK. I am going to start my third year at Warwick University in October and should graduate by July 2014. Despite the fact that I enjoy living in England, I would like to experience one of US top universities for my MSc. This decision is mainly due to the fact that in the UK it is harder to specialise in Aeronautics and Astronautics. I was considering applying to MIT, Caltech, Princeton and Stanford. I graduated from the Italian High School with the highest grade and, even though there is still the toughest year to tackle, I am currently on track to achieve a First Class Degree.
Do I have significant chances to be admitted in any of these Universities? What would you recommend doing before the application and how can I best prepare for it? How are UK classes of merit converted into GPA?
Thanks!!
:D</p>
<p>Having a First Class degree helps and universities in the US know how to interpret that. You need to do well on the GRE examinations and the TOEFL (but that should not be a problem…) The most important thing is to get strong letters of reference and research experience if you are going for a research degree (Ph.D.). If you want a professional masters, then it is not as critical.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick reply!!
Will they ask for a breakdown of my marks? This worries me a bit because my Uni uses weird names for the modules which tend to be quite big and comprise several topics that might be different (i.e. Mechanics and Electronics under the same module name).</p>
<p>Probably not but you can help the situation by including the syllabus for each of the courses.</p>