What are my chances for decent grad school ( I included all relevant details in the post)?

Graduate School
1

Hello all,

I graduated from UC berkeley with a degree in mechanical engineering earlier this year, and now I have decided I would like to go back to school for a master degree. The main reason why I want a master degree is because that while I learned a broad range of materials in the field, I feel that it was not focused enough for me to utilize it fully in the control system field I would like to work in the future.

I do realize that my gpa (3.14) is not good, and maybe terrible in some people’s eyes. I worked in one of my ME professor’s lab for 2 years in developing a tennis CPR machine, and was a member of an engineering club during my whole college career. However, outside of these I do not really have any intern experiences or other EC to help me out with. I only took GRE exam once, and due to school work I did not study for it at all, and with no surprise it ended horribly in the verbal and writing section (verbal : 152/54%, writing: 4/56%, quantitative: 170/98%).

As of now, I have my eyes set on grad schools like UCLA, UCSD and other rank 25~ or lower grad schools that I have not had a chance to look into yet.

So, here are my questions and any help / insight is welcomed.

  1. People say verbal section is not important for engineering grad app (even my school's grad admission person said so), but has anyone been accepted into a good engineering grad school with sub par verbal grade?

I know that GRE as a whole is not the main deciding factor for grad school application, so I wonder if it is worth the time and money to retake it for a better verbal / writing grade.

2… I wonder the schools that I mentioned above is a realistic goal or should I aim lower?

Honestly, I feel that there are much less grad school admission information on the internet compare to undergrad. I am having a much harder time to assess where I stand as of now. Any comment on my current standing, or past personal experience in application process is welcomed.

  1. Is there anything I can do (besides GRE) as of now to improve my chances at a decent ME grad school?

I am expecting to take EIT (FE) exam this month, and I have requested recommendation letters from my senior year professors and research professor. I am currently looking for job, but I doubt that will make itself onto my resume in time. Maybe I should even just work a little bit (2-3 years maybe?) to build up experience then worry about school at a later time? One major concern I have for this is my personal resolve. I find it very daunting to go back to school if I have not touched a textbook in a few years.

Thank you for whoever spent time to read my long post!

2

Your GRE scores are fairly strong. Of course engineering departments want to see a high quantitative score but they also know that having good verbal skills is important for a professional engineer. For graduate school ECs don’t matter but your 2 years of research are a plus. Your GPA is above minimum but probably not strong enough for the programs you mention, which are highly selective.

I have been told by my colleagues in engineering that having work experience is a big plus for admission to a Masters program. For this reason, I encourage you to find a job, then after a couple of years, you will know more clearly exactly what kind of Masters degree will best suit your career plans. At that point you will be ready to go for more classes and you will have a high motivation to succeed.

If you decide to apply right away, then choose a few less selective schools than you have listed and be prepared to self-fund the degree. Another good reason to get a job now is that some employers will actually pay for your tuition in getting a Masters.