- #1
Jinglxx
- 3
- 0
Hello everyone!
I graduated from UIUC with a 3.00 GPA in physics last year. (I managed to get this exact number) And my GPA of physics courses are not much higher than my overall GPA as well.
I plan to apply for grad school this year and go to grad school next year. And currently I am working at a large research institute in the field of nano materials.
I have not published any papers yet. But before submitting my graduate school application, I am likely to publish at least a review-type paper about nano materials in a journal with an impact factor from 5 to 20, but I will not be the first author. And Before I attend grad school, I am likely to publish even more papers, including papers with actual experiments and new discoveries. Also, I can probably get recommendation letters from my colleagues, although my colleagues are not very well known in the US. Additionally, I have done researches in UIUC, both in physics and computer science. But I forgot to ask for recommendation letters.
(This paragraph is less important so skip if you want) The reason I had such a poor GPA was largely because that I was distracted by many other things, like computer science, bio science and sometimes philosophy. I don't feel that any courses or researches is hard for me. For example, I took a computer science course designed for grad students to write a thesis, without taking any other computer science courses beforehand. And I got an A. Plus, I am currently working full time at a very productive research group in a very large research organization (Chinese Academy of Sciences) to do researches normally only done by people at least having a master degree. Thus, my GRE could be much better than my GPA if I try really hard
To sum up, my weakest points are my current GPA and poor determination, and my strongest points are research experiences and the ability to learn.
What are my chances to get into a decent master degree program? (Of course I would choose a PhD program directly if I can) How to improve my chances for getting accepted to better programs?
I graduated from UIUC with a 3.00 GPA in physics last year. (I managed to get this exact number) And my GPA of physics courses are not much higher than my overall GPA as well.
I plan to apply for grad school this year and go to grad school next year. And currently I am working at a large research institute in the field of nano materials.
I have not published any papers yet. But before submitting my graduate school application, I am likely to publish at least a review-type paper about nano materials in a journal with an impact factor from 5 to 20, but I will not be the first author. And Before I attend grad school, I am likely to publish even more papers, including papers with actual experiments and new discoveries. Also, I can probably get recommendation letters from my colleagues, although my colleagues are not very well known in the US. Additionally, I have done researches in UIUC, both in physics and computer science. But I forgot to ask for recommendation letters.
(This paragraph is less important so skip if you want) The reason I had such a poor GPA was largely because that I was distracted by many other things, like computer science, bio science and sometimes philosophy. I don't feel that any courses or researches is hard for me. For example, I took a computer science course designed for grad students to write a thesis, without taking any other computer science courses beforehand. And I got an A. Plus, I am currently working full time at a very productive research group in a very large research organization (Chinese Academy of Sciences) to do researches normally only done by people at least having a master degree. Thus, my GRE could be much better than my GPA if I try really hard
To sum up, my weakest points are my current GPA and poor determination, and my strongest points are research experiences and the ability to learn.
What are my chances to get into a decent master degree program? (Of course I would choose a PhD program directly if I can) How to improve my chances for getting accepted to better programs?