Schools Graduate school engineering admissions

[prettymidget]

I am finishing up my third year as an EECS major of a five year program at a highly reputable public university and I am strongly considering applying to doctoral programs in EECS (I figure I can leave with a terminal masters should I discover research at that level is not my cup of T). By graduation I will have completed 4 coop work terms and I have already finished 2 research summer opportunities. With tremendous effort I attained a gpa of ~3.9 over the last three years. However, before switching to EECS I was a probability and statistics major for a few years at a lower ranked school. At the time I was young(er), more foolish, more lost, and less concerned about academics. While I didn't do badly my GPA was about a 3.2. I think my strong GPA in the actual field I am striving for higher education in should dissuade any admissions committee of the notion that I am not capable or sufficiently motivated for graduate study but I can't help but feel uneasy (read: depressed) about having that blemish on my application. How will admissions at top/high ranked schools view this case? Would it be more prudent to perhaps apply for M.S. programs and go for a Ph.D from there?

Also - the areas of research that interest me the most are the the topics that straddle the lines between EE and applied physics such as photonics, semiconductor physics, etc. My background is more in electronics/software systems/signal processing type stuff. Is it difficult to switch over if I am accepted?

 

[prettymidget]

Also I'm curious as to how much industry work experience matters in admissions for MS only and PhD programs, respectively.