<p>Hi all, happy to be part of your community!</p>
<p>I am currently finishing my mechanical engineering studies here in Greece (I am Greek) and consider applying for graduate studies in U.S. or UK (would like for example the Princeton ME at ORFE program or something on this field at a good university). I can speak English good enough (I have taken the Michigan Proficiency test), I will be attending the army for a year before applying. I expect to be at about top 10% of my class.
The question is, is it worth it to take the GRE and apply to the top U.S. universities, or not? Do you think I have any chances?
Thanx in advance for th advice.</p>
<p>You might want to read the first page or so of posts in the "Graduate school admissions 101" thread pinned to the top of the main "Graduate School" page. That should give you 1) a good idea of what CC can and cannot answer and 2) a lot of solid advice on all of the most common questions about "getting in".</p>
<p>After that, your best course of action will be to discuss it with your professors - you'll need recommendation letters from them in any case so you might as well seek their advice first.</p>
<p>Yeah I'd say talk to your professors. The UK would probably be cheaper and simpler for you as an EU resident, and just as good as the US when comparing peer institutions. Imagine, no visa to worry about, no health insurance, no ridiculously long and expensive flights... However, there are a handful of American universities which have no peers in other countries, such as MIT and Caltech, if you think your application and letters of recommendation are strong enough to have a chance at those.</p>