<p>Hello everyone,
Currently I’m in a top 3 engineering school in canada. I’m in third year and my cumulative average is 3.1. However, for the last couple of semester my average is around 3.9-4.0 (yes, i did horribly in first year).</p>
<p>I have been awarded NSERC undergraduate research fellowship for this summer. I don’t know if any of you heard of it but it’s a research grant provided by Canadian government and it’s quite difficult to get it. And I wonder if this research award is well recognized among US schools for a M.S or MEng degree. I will be applying to Ivy-equivalent schools next year, and I wonder if my NSERC research grant will help me get there despite my poor cumulative average. </p>
<p>And also, even if I do exceptionally well in this research job, the chances that I get a paper published before I send my applications is impossible. Would that have a negative side on my application? Thanks!</p>