GPA for Tuition Waiver: Electrical Engineering, Power Specialization

[royzizzle]

school?

My major is Electrical Engineering. I plan on specializing in Power. Currently in junior year with a GPA of 3.52. No co-op or research experience. My current school's engineering program is ranked by usnews as 110-140

My ideal would be to get into a U.C school with tuition waiver for a M.S in electrical engineering. I plan on graduating in 4 years with no work experience. Can I expect my ideal to come true given the above circumstances?

What score should I aim above on the GRE exam?

My family is very poor and international as well so no FAFSA. so I NEED tuition waiver for grad school.

Thanks

 

[edgepflow]

Your grades are about where they need to be - try to keep above 3.50.

When you say UC, I assume you meen the Univeristy of California system. If so, keep in mind that these institutions are facing very severe budget issues and funding is more limited. I would still apply to UC system but try to find back ups that seem responsive.

 

[royzizzle]

when you say they are where are need to be, do you mean for admission or for getting financial waivers? I would ideally want to be in uc irvine or uc davis because I see schools such as ucla, usc, cal-tech, berkley as being out of my reach.

I really want to be in california because my family is likely moving there and my sister will likely be transferring to berkley or cal-tech in the next 2 years

thanks

how much will having no job or research experience hurt me if i don't do those things?

 

[edgepflow]

when you say they are where are need to be, do you mean for admission or for getting financial waivers? I would ideally want to be in uc irvine or uc davis because I see schools such as ucla, usc, cal-tech, berkley as being out of my reach.

I really want to be in california because my family is likely moving there and my sister will likely be transferring to berkley or cal-tech in the next 2 years

thanks

how much will having no job or research experience hurt me if i don't do those things?

Your grades are almost certainly good enough for admission and competitive (but not certain) for financial aid.

Since you are looking at California, I would also suggest UCSD and Cal State Fullerton.

If you don't have research experience, try to emphasize a senior project or something similar.

 

[QuarkCharmer]

Check out this website.
It has peoples GRE scores, Research, and a listing of the schools they applied to and whether they were made an offer or not.

http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3421

You can probably find something similar to your situation, if not your situation.

 

[Choppy]

I don't know how the University of California system works, but my experience has been that tuition isn't waived for graduate school. Rather you are given a TA or RA and/or a financial stipend and that covers tuition and generally gives you enough money to live on (rent, groceries, maybe one movie per week). Further, admission almost always comes with such support.

 

[royzizzle]

thanks guys, your comments have been extremely helpful!

 

[Edin_Dzeko]

Good luck to you, roy. Make your family proud! you can do it