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