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Yes, I'm dreaming to live in US for about two years now So I'm saving money and hopefully, with self accumulation and Fulbright scholarship, now I can afford a $55k budget a year.. That's why I try to get myself into a top-ranked school, but I don't know if they care about self-funding.. Yes, unfortunately I was working full-time during my academic career --so I hadn't got the chance to research.. But probably I'll start to work as a research assistant at my university this year, so I can publish some papers and an applicable master thesis in a year. (I'll apply for Fall 2010) Sorry for being non-specific. I'm from Turkey And here's my school: http://tinyurl.com/n5l7kd Yeah, it's very low than I'd expect, too. But I just completed 3 classes yet, and I got a B- from one of them.. So my GPA ruined because of 1 course. But I have 5 courses more, and I'll take them in Fall 2009.. so I'll increase this number above 3.5/4.0 (but unfortunately, this GPA will appear in late January.. so probably schools will see my current low GPA -> 3.17.. But I'll send my transcript again in January, too --i don't know if they accept or consider it..) Btw, I don't know my current master rank, but our school is full of nerds so 3.17 is an ordinary GPA for it. So no considerable rank i guess, but for now

Hi, Can any experienced grad applicant analyse my qualifications and give me some advice? I haven't applied to a MS or PhD in US so I don't know my acceptance chance.. Acedemic Background: - I am a master student at the most top-ranked and well-known school from a foreign country -- But my undergraduate education was from an under-represented school. (Both in Computer Engineering) - My current MS GPA -> 3.17/4.0 (i'll make it >3.5 until January) and undergraduate was 3.21/4.0 (but I ranked as 2nd of my department) - No publications Work Experience: - I'm working as full-time researcher at National Electronics and Cryptology Institute which is a part of National Science Foundation of my country (equal to NSA and NSF of US) for about 2 years now (I'm leading a Security Team for a project). - I worked as a part-time system admin at university's Computer Center for two years during my undergraduate education. Extras: -- I was a Google Summer of Code student in 2007 and Google Summer of Code Mentor in 2008, 2009. -- I have various talks about Open Source and Free Software. -- I have two awards from Linux Association of my country. -- I'm leading some local groups and join to panels as a speaker on the topic of Women in Computing, in order to have more women in this area. Exams: -- I'll take GRE and TOEFL soon. The point is, I'm selected as a Fulbright scholar and they'll support me $30000 per year (for 2 years). And I have about $30000 personal accumulation myself. So no funding is needed. My both undergraduate and professional experience was in Security area. I just finished my first term in my master program and I'll start to work on my thesis in a month (there's no specific topic yet..but it'll be about Security) So what do you think? With self funding + 2 years experience in a prestigious research institute + a top-ranked master degree + some extracurricular activities can get me accepted into top-ranked schools' PhD programs like Stanford, UCLA? And another question.. I have no master thesis topic yet.. So if I contact with profs from those universities and start to work on a master thesis which is parallel with their specific research areas can increase my acceptance rates?