<p>Hi,
I'm from Bits-Pilani, one of India's top notch under grad colleges. I have done my B.E in Civil engineering and I wanna apply to universities in U.S for a M.S in Structural Engineering or Construction Management. I have a GRE score of 1500 and my GPA for masters is 2.75. I had done four excellent projects and have some brilliant recommendations. I've undergone elaborate internships (summer 2months + 6months) in one of India's Construction Companies and would be having a work experience of an year by the time I get admitted into a University.</p>
<p>Where do I have a shot? What are the best universities for me to apply where I can get an admit? Please reply.</p>
<p>It is really unlikely that you will be accepted in the US with a GPA of 2.75 as an international student. I suggest that you get a masters in India as so many of your countrymen do. You will need a much higher GPA during your masters to be competitive here.</p>
<p>Even if it was 2.75/4.0, please remember that in many countries getting a maximum grade is not in any way ordinary so the grading principles or the amount of actual work required may be higher than in US. For example, on another forum I saw that many students from US with major GPA 3.5-3.9 from Physics usually got Physics GRE scores of 600-900, whereas many international students had PGRE 950+ and GPA of 70% of maximum. Of course there might be other factors too, but the one thing that clearly shows is the difference in grading policies, which is the reason international students shouldn’t always be assessed too much by their GPA.</p>
<p>Mavirta is correct. Getting a 4.0 out of 4.0 or 5.0 out of 5.0 is unusual in most places. The grading system varies widely between departments within a school as well as between schools and even moreso between tiers of schools. However, the idea that a 3.5 to 3.9 GPA equating to a certain test score is ludicrous. Some subset of individuals receiving a certain test score will fall into a GPA range you define, but the two aren’t very well correlated. </p>
<p>The only clear requirements related to grades that grad schools have are a 3.0 cutoff. If you have below a 3.0 most grad schools will not allow you to apply. You need substantially more than a 3.0 to be competitive, especially as an international.</p>
<p>I merely stated my observations, which were very limited in quantity and only applied to physics majors. But I think there should be pretty good correlation between general physics aptitude and PGRE score, at least if the PGRE is any good. Whether physics aptitude correlates well with physics major GPA I know now, because it is entirely possible that the courses are not difficult enough to discriminate students well (the grade scale is saturated). In addition, I have got the impression that people can choose the classes they pick somehow, so people having more confidence in their skills might pick difficult ones, and students less confident might take easier ones, thus resulting in a relatively same GPA even if there was a notable difference in skill.</p>
<p>Of course the (P)GRE test format fits some people better than others, and the requirement for quick solving encourages the test takers to memorize the formulas instead of for example learning how they can be derived from some basic principles. However, if I could decide, which I obviously can not, I would place much more emphasis on a standardized test than GPA, at least unless I knew the difficulty of the classes in an applicant’s transcript and the grading policy of the school. I am not saying GRE is any good, but the general idea of a standardized test should definitely be the way to go.</p>
<p>*Memorization vs learning how to derive things is one of the biggest differences between many international undergrad schools and US undergrad schools. So I suppose one may be better on the GRE subject?</p>
<p>(*According to some of my professors at least.)</p>
<p>Thanks guys, esp. belevitt and mavirta ! I have a 7.5 out of 10 CGPA in my undergrad and i have been told that for masters in U.S, you convert it like this (7.5 - 2)/2 = 2.75.
Please correct me if am wrong.
And with the recco’s i have and the papers i published, i was hoping there would be an ecxeption in my case. (Like they have them in Georgia tech).</p>
<p>I don’t want to change the subject of the thread, but many people here, including those at top institutions, couldn’t care less about the GRE. I definitely don’t know anyone who spent a significant time studying for them. I only say this because it may give you insight into any anomalies you see.</p>
<p>Back on topic, it has already been said that a 3.0 is the minimum requirement just to apply. However, I have seen this requirement waived under certain circumstances. Contact the school or professor you want to work with.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how GPAs are supposed to be converted, but I would imagine something along the lines of 7.5/10=x/4 so your GPA would be a 3.0. But as I said, I have no idea how this is supposed to work.</p>
<p>Swaps_Kate, your GPA is probably around a 3.0 if you use the standard conversion scale: 10 = 4, 7.5 = x, cross multiply and find X. To be sure, contact the grad admissions office of a school you’re interested in and ask - they should have an international student specialist on hand to help you out.</p>
<p>Thanks guys! Will contact accordingly. Now, coming back to my initial query, do u guys have an idea if what my chances are to get into the following:
Georgia tech or 2. Northwestern or 3. Cal tech or 4. Princeton or 5. Purdue.
These are my top 5 dream univs for M.S. Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I am sorry for continuing this slightly off-topic subject.</p>
<p>CH121S,
Very good point. If I remember correctly, Feynman reported a phenomenon like that from some South America country, and it really would explain nicely why people from some countries consistently get better PGRE scores than people from some other countries. Without knowing for sure it’s of course impossible to deduce how significant that is compared to other reasons, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the primary difference-maker.</p>
<p>red herring,
Just to make sure we are on the same page here, are you talking about Physics GRE or the general one?
I think a major beauty of the test (PGRE) is that if you are a good physics student, you should be able to do pretty well without much training, because the knowledge needed is the same you should already have. Learning test-taking strategies and reviewing some freshman subjects you might have slightly forgotten will obviously increase one’s score, but the foundations for the score are built in four years and whatever time an applicant uses preparing for the test will not make a qualitative difference. Bottom line is that even if a competent physics student would not study at all to PGRE, he should still do reasonably well if his skills are genuine so the lack of study time is no excuse for a bad score, if the test is taken during or immediately after undergraduate studies.</p>
<p>mavirta, I perhaps ignorantly responded. A foreign co-worker told me that several people in his home country took a year off whence they studied for the GRE, among other things. I agree that anyone who studies a bit should be able to recall what they learned fairly well, but I didn’t think many good students would be able to compete with that kind of preparation. However, this is only coming from one co-worker, and may not adequately convey what most people do.</p>
<p>For individual assignments that 80% as a B usually only occurs when graded on an absolute scale. When graded on a curve this number becomes arbitrary. For example, the highest grade on one of my finals last quarter was a 66%, and this person received an A. However, the professor may decide that the 80th percentile is a B, regardless of the actual percentage. This may be what Chris meant.</p>
<p>Again, to clear up all the GPA questions I would just contact the schools you’re interested in. I’m sure they’ve heard all these questions before.</p>
<p>Thanks @ CH121S ! Will look at the other schools too. Also, since GPA is only of the criterions to get into ‘top rank’ schools like Georgia Tech, I was hoping I have fairly good ‘chances’ to go there! @redherring-Students from India generally take about two or three months to prepare for GRE and @ mavirta - I have no clue about PGRE. But, I agree with you that a standardized test is generally the best way to go.
Anyways, thanks again!</p>
<p>@red herring - Yeah, I’m taking your advice on contacting the schools. Also, I will try contacting the professors I would like to work with. Keeping my fingers crossed for now!
Thanks!</p>
<p>Numbers are really pretty pointless for internationals. For example at the London School of Economics, a 70/100 is a first class which is at some departments graded to be the top 10% of the students. This means that the best 20% is probably a GPA above 65/100.</p>
<p>Given an average of 65, which would be around a top 20% class rank would give you a US GPA of 2.6. Telling an international applicant that the minimum GPA is 3.0 is thus complete BS as a 3.0 on that scale would place you at 75/100 meaning you would probably be somewhere in the top 2%.</p>
<p>Of course, your grade is going to be a first class, upper second class etc. when you graduate and US schools actually only note that part of your grade when you apply i.e. not the numerical. The problem is that in some countries the numbering can be as “harsh” without having the degree classifications that the British have. I don’t know about this particular case, but you guys mentioning the 3.0 all the time should take this into account.</p>