Screwed up my undergrad here, is MS in CS in USA possible?

International Students
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<p>I scored about 88 in 10th grade and 78 in 12th.</p>

<p>The marks weren’t good enough to get financial help at a good US college, and at the time we couldn’t really afford even a year of education so I was told by everyone to just finish off my Bachelors degree in India someplace anywhere till we got back into a better financial situation.</p>

<p>This turned out to be a bad idea, because this ‘anywhere’ (my college - under Pune University) was new and didn’t have experienced or good teachers, and my marks didn’t even hit 55%. Even the college topper barely made 65%.</p>

<p>To top it all, I got a year down in my second year (one of the subjects was a Humanities subject iin which I missed the grace mark range of by 1 mark). This was more common here than you’d expect, but that’s not an excuse. The worst part is, I lost focus not doing something cool or socializing, but by trying to learn CS related things beyond the scope of my college syllabus (We still use the 1993-made TurboC compiler for C, and Python seemed like a high-level magic language).</p>

<p>I’m pretty good at CS, and I’d say when it comes to the practical parts, probably top 3 of my class, but I had been a bit lazy at the theory part.</p>

<p>Do I have a shot at doing a Masters in the US? Or is it over for me in this regard?</p>

<p>I’ll be starting my third year around June, and while I’ll obviously try to make up for the poor marks, even 65 would be hopelessly optimistic (Pune University is notorious for being a low-scoring University).</p>

<p>What can I do to make it to the US?</p>

<p>I don’t have much else to speak of. I did win first prize at some college (not mine) coding event, and that earned me some decent cash to buy a new smartphone, but I don’t think it counts. While I did volunteer with the Rotary Club to give out polio drops to kids when I was back in the 9th grade, that was a long time ago, and I haven’t done anything since. And I think it would be sort of wrong to start volunteering now for the sole purpose of being able to say so in my application. I did top my school in Computer Science in both 10th and 12th, if that counts for anything, although I only have the certificate from the 12th.</p>

<p>Right now in the mean time till my college starts, I’m just doing online courses, even random ones not related to my subject.</p>

<p>This whole post may seem callous and borderline smarmy, but I swear I’m freaking out and just trying to appear calm.</p>

<p>Summary:</p>

<p>10th: 88%
12th: 78%
1st Year: 50%
2nd Year: 54%</p>

<p>Terrible profile, I know, but I’d like to know my chances. I’m not even thinking of top 20-30, and I’m guessing I’m going to have to start looking from 101 onwards.</p>

<p>Please tell me what you guys think.</p>

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<p>Try posting this under the grad school forum. Looks like first you need help emotionally than advice on college admissions. Judging by the type of marks you are obtaining, it is highly unlikely (close to impossible, already) that you will do grad school at some good place like HYP, Carnegie Mellon or UIUC or GA Tech… </p>

<p>But there always will be grad school in US who will be willing to take you in as long as you are willing to pay full fees. What about research? Any original research?</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying!</p>

<p>Yup, I realize I won’t be doing my graduate studies in Carnegie Mellon…etc, I’m looking for what might actually take me. </p>

<p>I know a lot of people on this forum are MIT and Stanford candidates, so this is like a total reversal of the trend here, but I’m sure there might be a few who also ended up in much lower-ranked schools, or at least know something about it.</p>

<p>I haven’t done any research. Is normal to have done research as a second year undergrad?! Any idea about how it works? Because I have some time left, I could get started soon if required.</p>

<p>What schools might take me? I’ve heard names like Rochester and Syracuse and NJ and Arizona.</p>

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<p>you can get admission in schools in Mississippi, Texas. Texas schools are very cheap. Apply for schools close to the Mexico border. But, you have to spend something like 25 lakhs and you may get a degree. It is very difficult to get GC here nowadays. So, I am not sure about the use of that degree.</p>