Engineering Graduate School Admissions with Physics Degree

kitaewolf

Hi, I'm a concerned college student (aren't we all :0 ), who is intending to major in physics in one of the bigger universities in US. However, it seems that my inclination lately lies more towards engineering graduate school (if I go). So if I apply for an engineering grad school with physics degree (of course to engineering school that accepts physics degree) will the admissions view my GPA differently? For example, I see that most accepted GPA for even the major engineering grad school ranges from 3.4 to 3.6. With my degree in physics, will the admissions expect my GPA to maybe around that or higher?

Vanadium 50

You will be underprepared compared to engineering students. Therefore you will have to be better than them in other areas.

kitaewolf

So would that imply that I would probably have to have a better grade than other engineering applicants? Or would I have to take more classes in engineering as a preparation? What do you mean in terms of other areas??

Vanadium 50

As many of those things as you can do. You look worse than the other students in terms of preparation, so you need to make up for that by looking better somewhere else.

kitaewolf

I'm quite sure that excelling in all area will be beneficial for me, but if i have about the same GPA as engineering applicants who enters into the graduate program (like let's say GPA of 3.4-3.6), and about the same in terms of other preparations, would I still have a chance to get into a more competitive graduate school? Or what if I have about the same GPA but have more experience in terms of research, published paper? Would those be enough for me to look "better prepared"?

Vanadium 50

Nobody can tell you for sure what the committee (who has access to material we do not) will think. All I can say is that you are less prepared, so you need to make up for it somehow.