Sub 3 GPA...chances?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi, I am an international student. I completed my B.S in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in Fall 2012 with a cumulative 2.4 GPA and 3.1 GPA in my major.</p>

<p>I have a lot of research experience. I won the PURA (President’s Undergraduate Research) award and my team was ranked top 10 in Senior Design Expo. I also published two papers.</p>

<p>I understand my abyssal GPA cannot be overcome by my research experience and therefore, I am interested to know if I can get admitted to any graduate engineering university in US. I am ready for any university with a graduate engineering program (be it community schools if they have one). </p>

<p>If I do not have any chances for a graduate school, am I eligible, as an international student, to do another B.S degree from some school. Any advice, recommendations what my next course of action should be?</p>

<p>I will be very grateful for any suggestions!</p>

2

<p>You should look for jobs and internships in your intended career field. Applying later with a track record of real-world work experience will be much more beneficial than trying to get another undergraduate degree.</p>

3

<p>Most of the internships and jobs require a 3.0 GPA. I do not have any internship experience because I had sub 3 GPA from freshmen year.
Would you have any idea about internships or jobs (engineering related) which do not have any GPA requirements or can accept my GPA. I am an international student so I cannot, say join some random blue collar job.</p>

<p>I am therefore trying for some Masters degree and if I do not get accepted to any, then I hope for another undergraduate degree. Worst to worst case, I have to return back to my country which I really, really do not want.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply.</p>

4

<p>A major GPA of 3.1 might be sufficient for acceptance into a mid-tier masters program such as Auburn or Clemson. These schools also might give your GPA a little extra weight because it’s from Georgia Tech – a school notorious for smart students with low GPA’s. You also have a solid foundation in research which will not go unnoticed.</p>

<p>I’d say, take your best shot at these schools (and maybe pick a few more schools as well – some higher and some lower-but-still-respectable), but also look for jobs as polarscribe mentioned.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for replying.
I applied for many jobs and internships but have yet to be called for an interview. Kinda annoys me when I look back at the professors who claimed a C in Tech is equivalent to an A at a smaller school…most definitely not.
Anyways, now I am in Taiwan doing some research and I will apply to many small grad schools for Spring.</p>

6

<p>Btw do you know any other Tier 3 engineering schools? It is difficult to locate them on Google. I am thinking of University of Portland, North Dakota, Alaska-Fairbanks. </p>

<p>Clemson is a pretty good school. I do not think it is Tier 3 standard…</p>

7

<p>Both Clemson and Auburn’s graduate engineering programs are ranked 32nd and 40th among public universities according to US News, and although I have never been to Clemson (so I can’t directly compare the two programs), I think a ranking of 40th for Auburn seems low. It might be because I have a good advisor, and I’ve been taking some challenging classes, packed with useful information. At any rate, I’d consider Clemson and Auburn both Tier 2 schools, and if you can land an assistantship with the right professor, you would be doing very well.</p>

<p>There are a couple of schools in the Silicon Valley of California that I might recommend as backups, which are often overlooked by out-of-state applicants, and they would be Santa Clara University, and San Jose State University. Although they are obviously upstaged by Stanford on a national/international level, they are still highly respected by Silicon Valley employers, and you could potentially have good networking opportunities at those schools.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>A little of topic but what about UC Santa Cruz? I would love to get in UC Davis and I am going to apply but I am just curious if UC SC is a decent backup school.</p>

<p>3.5GPA
1 year undergraduate research experience
GRE yet to be taken
aiming for chemistry PhD program</p>

9

<p>I think you need a 3.0 GPA to even get into Clemson’s graduate engineering program</p>

10

<p>A few phone calls to various admissions offices might be in order here. You may want to give each individual school a rundown of your qualifications / accomplishments, and ask them whether your application will be seriously considered, or would it end up in the trash.</p>