Steps to take to get into engineering grad school after graduating

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I'm a senior that is graduating this semester in civil engineering. A goal of mine is to get a master's degree eventually, but given some things that have come up these past few years that seems kind of out of my reach and was wondering what steps I should take to make grad school an option for myself again.</p>

<p>I didn't do so well my first two years, but things started to change in my junior year and I began climbing back up again. I finished junior year with an overall GPA of 3.1, and a upper division GPA of 3.3. That's when I thought that grad school would still be a viable option. I then decided to study abroad in Hong Kong. While I had a great time there, my grades there for horrible. I certainly tried my best while in Hong Kong but the teaching style is much different, and grades are based almost entirely (70%+) on final exams. Not only that, but there seems to be an unusually harsh curve there too, and I ended up with nothing better than a C+ in all of my classes (even in the ones where I was doing well), and even failed a class. For that failed class, I emailed the professor and asked how it was possibly I did so poorly, and he said that I did decently on the design project (which demonstrates that I understood the material) but did poorly on a part of the exam, so he just flat out failed me. I'm currently in the process of having that grade converted into P/NP retroactively (because my adviser believes it's an unfair assessment of my performance) but it's a process that is not very likely to work out in my favor.</p>

<p>So now I'm finishing up college, and my current GPA (without having the previous grade removed) fell down to a 2.9. This semester I'm finishing my requirements and am taking a graduate-level course, and so far I'm doing very well, but there's still a long way to go until the end. Even if I get a 4.0 this semester, I will still only barely meet the minimum requirements of graduate admissions.</p>

<p>I've taken the GRE (550 verbal, 800 math, 5 writing) and plan to apply for grad school before that score expires. I'm currently participating in research project in the area of civil engineering that I'm most interested in. I'm also using a lot of my free time in trying to get an entry-level position for work experience after graduation. I'm wondering if there's anything I can do after graduation aside from work to make me a stronger applicant for grad school. Is there any way I can make up for those poor grades while I was in Hong Kong? I hear of some people doing postbacs but I haven't really looked into that; is that something that could work for me?</p>

2

<p>If you are currently doing undergraduate research for a professor, you may want to talk to your professor about it. You don’t want to graduate with a GPA below 3.0 if you intend to go to graduate school, because then (somebody correct me if I’m wrong), your GPA is cast in stone. You might be able to take a few technical electives in the Fall to raise your GPA back up above 3.0, but that would mean you would have to cancel your graduation petition. That said, this is a special circumstance that I don’t think anyone on CC can have a clear-cut answer on what to do, other than say to ask for advice from somebody at your school in the know – particularly if you know somebody on the graduate school selection committee.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the response. I did some research and there are some programs which my professor said are good, though not top tier, and they have less competitive requirements for graduate admission, like a 2.5 minimum. I am going to look into those if everything else falls through.</p>

<p>If anyone else has any thoughts, please share.</p>

4

<p>easiest would be for you to gain admission at your current school – i’d say try there. </p>

<p>there are also several lower-tier schools you can aim for.</p>

<p>if not, taking a year or two off to build your research creds by working at a lab/company could help.</p>

5

<p>Why is your goal to get a master’s degree? A degree should never be a goal, it’s a means to a goal (i.e. being employed in a certain position doing a certain type of work). Based on your ultimately goal, we can probably back into how you should approach graduate schools.</p>

6

<p>Can you delay your graduation from your current school by a year? That would give you more time to work on improving your GPA while getting more research experience. In cases like yours, it will certainly help (i.e. may be essential) for one or more of your profs to make a case for you among his/her contacts. From what you have written, as things stand now, it sounds as though you only have records of 1 strong academic year in college. That just does not seem like enough . . .</p>

7

<p>My son is graduating in ME in May and has been accepted into several programs for Sept . I would certainly delay applying to grad school. Work or do some additional coursework to get those grades up . Good luck !</p>