I am looking at grad schools right now and have not a clue what makes a good applicant and what steps should I be taking to get to the school I want to be. I’m going to be a junior EE major and am just beginning to look at grad schools. I attend a top 100 program right now but am shooting to improve and gun for a top 20 EE program like University of Illinois-UC, Georgia Institute of Tech., or Michigan University.
My GPA is 3.44 and has been rising since one bad semester last year. I have an average relationship with my professors right now (they recognize me and I do well in class). No research experience.
My main questions are the following:
Is my goal too great? Will these schools even consider me because I’m from a “lesser” institution?
How do I choose between MS/PhD?
Is my GPA going to hinder me at all?
Any suggestions on how to “break the ice” with a professor that I want to work on research with when I don’t really have any specific topics in mind, just interested in what they are working on?
Thanks!
If you are going to apply to a Phd program at a top uni you need research experience. Likely even for the MS. But you know to apply to a PHD program when you have done research and find that you like it and are good at it. It is a very long road so you want a good handle on it. You also need better than DWIC letters. You will want to do as much as possible. You don’t have to come up with a topic yourself at first at least. Undergraduates often join established research groups. You can also apply for REU next summer. Read all your profs web pages to see what they research and research groups also may have pages with links and info. Also search your uni in general to see what is said about undergrad research opportunities. Then you can talk to your profs.
Graduate programs do not discriminate against your uncergraduate institution. You need, however, to have a strong application for graduate school. This includes high GRE scores and a good GPA as well as personal and meaningful letters of reference.
Since you will be a Junior this year, you need to start in the Fall to find a research experience on campus and then applly for REUs by February of 2016 (if you are U.S. Citizen) to get a separate experience. I suggest you simply send email to faculty whose research you find interesting. Ask for an appointment and just ask if they have space in the group for a volunteer. Ask your Academic Advisor who might be a good choice if you have no clue.
Now for the “top 20” thing. You have to decide if it is a Ph.D. or Masters that you want because the situations are usually quite different. Since many universities which have Ph.D. programs use their financial aid for entering Ph.D. students, and a Masters is not necessary i order to start in a Ph.D. program, they will probably expect you to self-fund the Masters. This means that their admission requirements will be less than those for a Ph.D. In this circumstance, it will certainly be possible to be admitted to the highly selective programs. If you are going for a Ph.D., you need to realize tahtthe mot selective programs have so many applicants that itis often quite hard to get in even with a perfect GPA and high GRE scores. Make sure you apply to a range of programs. and realize that for a Ph.D. the mistimportant thing is your faculty reserach advisor, not the “ranking” of the program. There are many top notch researchers at the less selective schools and their students do very well after graduation. Finally, if you need funding for a Masters, and you want to do research, keep an eye out for those programs which offer only a Masters. There you can get funding and will have a higher chance to get a thesis project.