Hi everyone,
So just this week I took the initiative to go visit the facilities, the coordinator, and the director of a masters program at the University of Pennsylvania I am applying to. I had a lot to say about myself and my interest in the program (it would mean the world to me to go there), but I made the mistake (I guess) of mentioning my low GPA (3.2) and GRE scores to the director of the program in hopes to hear that they wouldn't be that big of a problem for my application. He, who at first had been very enthusiastic about me for my after-college experiences as a visiting student at ETH-Zurich and UW-Madison, seemed to lose a bit of his interest after hearing of my not-so-bright performance in college. He started to dwell on it, despite all my efforts to justify points he was raising and move the conversation to something else. Long story short: he told me he couldn't say anything before he got to see my application and encouraged me to retake the GRE and then apply (both to the program he was in charge of and to another program I could fit in at UPenn as well), however I feel we spent way too long talking about my flaws versus talking about my qualities, and the feeling that I left a bad impression with him has killed me!
I feel like I might still get a chance there if I significantly improve my GRE scores and justify my bad GPA mentioning how my grades have improved after graduating from college on my SOP. I graduated at the University of São Paulo with one of the highest GPAs in the history of my course (7.9 out of 10.0). That translates into 3.2 in the 0.0-4.0 scale, however in Brazil class grades are not curved as they are in the US. I feel insecure about writing too much about this on my SOP though, because of how our conversation developed. So, should I go ahead and try to talk about my not-so-ideal GPA on the SOP yet again? If so, which tone would be appropriate? You guys think I might still hold a chance there or should I just move on to a less competitive program?
Thanks for all the advice and I'm sorry for the long post! Been confused trying to put things together here and thought I could use the advice of people more experience on this than me...
No, I am also applying to the University of Chicago, to the State University of New York - Albany (SUNY), to Johns Hopkins, to the University of North Carolina - Greensboro (UNCG). I tried to find lower tier schools that offered programs in nanoscience/nanotechnology, but was not able to. Could you tell me if all the schools I mentioned are equally competitive and/or if you know of less competitive ones?