Will getting me degree from alaska hurt my chances?

Graduate School
1

<p>I graduated in July 2009 with a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage. When I got out of school with my Bachelor’s I had 3 jobs lined up, but they all fell through because of the hiring freezes that plagued companies up here for the past couple of years. After spending a year unsuccessfully trying to get an interview at any of the engineering firms nearby, I talked to one of my friends working on his doctorate and decided it would be a good idea to do the same.</p>

<p>My question is; will getting my degree from UAA hurt my chances at getting into a good graduate school? UAA just received the ABET certification the year I graduated, and I received a 3.59 GPA. I passed the FE exam and I expect to do very well on the GRE from the practice tests I’ve seen. I haven’t had any research experience, but I had an internship for a few months at an engineering firm.</p>

<p>Should I even apply to prestigious colleges like M.I.T., or should I aim lower? I love learning, so much so that I’m having a bit of trouble deciding which specialization to go for, so any suggestions on schools or programs would be welcome. I love the idea of working on something with moving parts. (The optimum job for me would be something to do with robotics, but so far I’ve loved all of the parts of engineering I’ve seen.)</p>

2

<p>*getting MY degree. Not a good start is it. -_-</p>

3

<p>Alaska is not a problem, but your app does not look strong enough for MIT. Your gpa is pretty solid, and is in the lower range of consideration for top schools - that is, you COULD get into MIT with that gpa if everything else is really strong, but it isn’t. ABET certification should not be a problems so long as they were accredited at the time of graduation. The FE exam is a non-issue. The lack of research is a real issue - grad students are researchers, and without any experience at all you are a bit behind compared to many of your PhD-bound peers.</p>

<p>Another big problem is your lack of focus. Grad programs are very specific, and until you identify your area of interest you can neither identify schools nor potential advisors. Also, no professor is going to want you as a student if it seems questionable that you’re really going to stick around. Pick something.</p>

<p>In so far as rankings matter, I would probably focus on departments in the 20-30’s for ME, plus some reach and safety schools - if nothing else, those rankings tend to represent the competitiveness of admissions, so I would think that this is where you stand a reasonable chance. That having been said, ME isn’t my field, and I have no idea which schools those would be.</p>