<p>What is the <em>range</em> for a competitive engr’ing GPA to enter a “top program” (Top 30 ranked) , and a “middle range program” (60 ranked up) ? </p>
<p>I would like to go to grad school and am have been on the Dean’s Honor Roll thingy at my school (3.5 GPA and up) for the last 3 quarters. I plan to do some research in the fall and I am willing and desire to learn try new things academically. Anyway, I’m curious!</p>
<p>this is a very difficult question to answer as it depends on your field, degree intention (ph.d. or masters), and the schools you’re aiming for (top 30 includes schools like Penn State which has drastically different admissions standards vs. a school similarly ranked like harvard or columbia).</p>
<p>I got my BS EE at Penn State, and one of the professors there gave a presentation on selecting a grad school - he stated that you need a 3.5 to have a shot at a top-5 school, a 3.2 to have a shot at a top-25 school, and a 2.8 to have a shot anywhere. Bear in mind that these are minimums - apply to CalTech or MIT with a 3.5 and you had better have a whole lot more going for you. Also realize that undergraduate program strength plays in here as well - a 3.5 from Stanford might get you into MIT whereas a 3.5 from Boise State might not.</p>
<p>What will be the range of your final gpa, and from what school?</p>
<p>Sorry to bud into the conversation but i am curious about what u think of my grades. I finished my junior year with a 3.35 gpa from Binghamton Univeristy. I am majoring in mechanical engineering. As for the gre’s i should easily get a 750 in the quantitative but would be lucky to get a 500 in verbal and my degree intention is masters. Thanks for all responses.</p>
<p>Research, research, research.</p>
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<p>and you really need good GPA PLUS research, if you get low GPA and rely on research doesnt work</p>
<p>@cosmicfish </p>
<p>I’m just finished my first year, but I plan to keep GPA above 3.5 (or fight it as hard as I can). I am attending UC Irvine. </p>
<p>One of my writing TA’s (graduated from St. Louis University) applied to the lower half of the top 30 writing/english departments for literary criticism (something like that) and he got SHAFTED by the Ivies. He had GRE all in the top 99% (including a perfect one a subject test). He worked like none other and Princeton said that “perhaps a letter of rec. from an esteemed professor would be more beneficial then a writing samlpe”. Columbia (flat out) said they failed to evaluate his application. He emailed the schools that rejected him and asked why…and apparently there was some unfair acts going on. He said for his round of applications that ~8 people at Columbia were straight from Harvard. </p>
<p>I get that Irvine is not the same as Cal/LA, but I’m still gonna hope for the best. I plan to get involved with research in the fall and am currently thinking about a Masters in Mechanical/ Aerospace Engineering.</p>
<p>I am staying at UC-Irvine’s campus for the summer, and i have to say the campus kind of sucks. way too quiet. i think if you guys were more exciting, you’d do a lot better at graduate admissions…;). Hell, i’m so bored, i’ve been trying to find GRE tutoring jobs.</p>
<p>Brando,</p>
<p>The numbers I quoted were for sciences and engineering - from what little I have seen, humanities is more competitive with gpa. Your writing TA can probably add a 0.2 or so to those gpa’s I listed.</p>
<p>As to the non-gpa issues:</p>
<p>GRE</p>
<p>GRE’s are only ever really used as a disqualifier - they show a certain minimum level of basic competence, and once you clear that the committees become more interested in other criteria.</p>
<p>LOR’s</p>
<p>LOR’s are very important for ANY school, because they are people saying “I’m just like you, professor, and I know this guy pretty well and if I were you I would take him.” It is importance that you have a strong academic reference, and if you have done research it is crucial that you either have your advisor gives you an LOR or else get published so they know your research was worthwhile. You need one more, but as long as you have at least one long-term (preferably 1+ years of interaction) reference the other two can be just okay.</p>
<p>SOP</p>
<p>Important, but there are lots of resources on writing them. This is not a writing sample, it’s where you make your case and prove that you area good fit for the program.</p>
<p>Fit</p>
<p>No school will want you if you do not match up to one or more of the faculty. If you want to study computational fluid mechanics and they have no one doing it, they will not admit you even if you have a 4.00 gpa, 1600 GRE, and LOR’s from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.</p>
<p>Okay, that’s not entirely true - those LOR’s will carry enough weight in some schools.</p>
<p>Masters/PhD</p>
<p>In general, masters programs are easier to get into but they are usually self-funded. PhD programs are harder to get into but are usually fully-funded - make that almost always for science/engineering. Also note that some schools accept a lot of masters students (Stanford EE) while others accept none at all (MIT EE).</p>
<p>Ivy League</p>
<p>Getting into the humanities at an Ivy is probably one of the hardest things in grad education - they really ARE some of the best schools in those areas, and they have established long and arcane lists of expectations which are hard to meet if you did not do your undergrad at another Ivy. Plus they can be snotty about your academic pedigree.</p>
<p>Top Schools</p>
<p>Ivy or not, there are a few things to bear in mind about the top schools. Everyone applying there will have good gpa and gre, and probably a ton of research and strong LOR’s. They will get picky about little things, and small factors that you would not even consider can drop you because the competition is just that good.</p>
<p>Top schools are always fickle, and without having all the apps in front of you it is very hard to understand why a given person was rejected, or waitlisted, or accepted. If you are going to apply to a top school you should probably apply to several, because it is just not reasonable to expect you will get into that one just because you were the top person at your undergrad.</p>