Texan_Air

I wouldn't put this under resume experience because it hasn't happened yet and anything could change from here to then. Since they make their decisions in the spring for fall acceptances you still wouldn't have started your internship. However though, I would definetly list this in your SOP to boast up your application. Congrats on the internship.

This is coming from a person who hasn't started their engineering masters yet, so take my advice as you wish. But I am going to be in the same position as you, and I plan to take 4 classes a semester. The ~30 credit hours + any background credit hours I need is going to push me to 3 semesters. I don't want to add extra money on to that with another semester. So your financial budget should be an important factor in your decision. I can't say how difficult your courses are going to be but with no working I think you should give it a shot. It's also a good sign that you are aware that only certain classes are offered in spring or fall. This seems to always get masters students. You need to make sure all your spring offered classes you want will be there for you or otherwise you might have to replace them with something you don't find interesting at all.

Are you applying for a PHD or just Masters?

Check the University's program website or google for more info. You can also use the following weblink below as a loose guide. It lists the Quant scores average. http://www.university-list.net/us/rank/univ-20131047.htm 760=160 in Quant

To me you are right at the average acceptance score which is great. For my program at A&M they list the average combined GRE (Quant+Verabal) as 320 and the mininum combined score at 310. Make sure to get good recommendations and to write a good SOP.

I wonder how much self-funding comes in to play for Master seeking applicants. Why would applications ask the question "If you are not offered a financial award, do you plan to enroll if offered admission?" then, if they think self funding is not wanted? I still wouldn't mention your personal savings because you could also be shooting yourself in the foot, and negatively impacting your chance at getting funding right off the bat. Anyways for a self-funded PHd topic, I think the it depends mostly on the university if they always support their PHd canidates. Have you guys looked at the Data-Based Assesstment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the US? One of the data shown is about Percent of first year students with full finiancial support. Now the data is from 2005 but it is quite interesting. You can download the excel file free at the following below http://www.nap.edu/rdp/

I would reduce the first two paragraphs to two sentences. You don't need a big introduction for a 500 word SOP. You would be wasting half of the 500 word length for it when you could focus more on your research background and interests. It is hard to say what else is important without seeing your SOP, but try to combine sentences and eliminate extra adjectives. Also acronym your University name if you mention it a lot in the end.

Look at your specific school program admission requirements to get a better idea on the minimums or averages if stated. The combined 310 is a minimum for a school like Texas A&M in my program. But that writing score of a 3 worries me if you are an international applicant. I have seen a couple of schools posting needing a 4 for international applicants for my schools. Try these websites for chemical engineering university rankings. The first one lists a average Quant score (old GRE). http://www.university-list.net/us/rank/univ-20131044.htm http://best-engineering-colleges.com/chemical-engineering/master

I did the same thing in August as well. Glad I did though because I would have never finished these applications early with the demand of my previous job. Not sure if it is important to mention that you are currently unemployed. I didn't mention it in my SOP as it would it would retract from the positive strength meaning. I wish there was a way to update my application when I start a new job in January though. I'm interviewing currently again.

Did you research or write a paper with any of the professors you are thinking about asking? I actually asked two of my professors 2.5 years ago if they could write me a recommendation in the future because I knew I was going to work in the industry for 2+ years before applying. When I emailed them a few months ago I attached my project/report and research papers I did with them to the email so they would have something to remember about me. I also typed up a document (with lots of pictures) on what I have been up to since last seeing them. It broke the ice quite well and they both came through for me.

I actually found out that this happened to one of my recommendations this morning. He wrote without a company letter head and I thought it was the ugliest looking letter in the world. He told me that he believes a company letterhead shouldn't be on a personal recommendation. To me it looks so ugly though, as he had no Dear Committee..., no signature, and horrible formatting. He wrote half a page so now all I think is that this is a bad recommendation that I will regret.

I never put my reason in my Personal Statement because I didn't want to throw off the strength of the meaning. But advice on doing that seems to be mixed when researching on the internet. To be honest, I think it is right on a case by case situation. My situation was that my first year was pretty bad due to working full time to support myself after my dad lost his job, which affected my grades and left my overall gpa low. My major GPA was .35 higher so I made sure to highlight that in my resume. Application communities state they look at your junior and senior courses and like to see a upward trend. But one of my applications had a "Extenuating Circumstances" optional statement and I made sure to write in that statement. But just keep in mind that a circumstance can't necessarily mean a excuse for all bad grades received during your entire undergraduate.

Are you applying to for a Masters in Mechanical Engineering or Aerospace Engineering? Your profile says ME but your application and interest seem toward Aerospace more. PM me and I can help you out with a list of US schools to look at. My GPA is sub-par and I am appying for Fall 2015.

This has been bugging me for awhile on my applications and I can't find an answer online. Why is there a space for an Analytical and Analytical Writing score to enter on the GRE section of college applications? What is the Analytical?

I have gotten confused alot on these and I have been able to pin point the website contradiction problem to that the univeristy graduate admissions can have different guidlines then the programs guidlines. For example I got a email after submitting my application that the school graduate admissions wanted a pdf transcript and the department of engineering wants a official mailed transcript. Also their deadlines differed and the Deptartment of Engineering stated their deadlines supersede the graduate admissions. The University mainly wants a scan of a official paper transcript and not a scan from a website. Which of course means that you can break the seal or just get it without a enveolpe directly from your undergrad university. Additional rules can be blacking out your social secruity number, and scanning the back of the transcript once if that is where the legend is ,and making the file size fit a limit. "And if in doubt, just call the school, to call them out."

To me it seems your not sure on what field you want to study for your graduate studies. Going into the work force will obivously make your application stronger, but it might give you some needed insight on what you want to pursue. Keep in mind that jumping from Computer Science (if thats what you are pursuing in undergrad) to a Master's in psycology will require background courses needed in psycology on top of 30+ gradute credit courses. Also remember that you can always pursue a non-degree masters, but I can't say that it will open the doors toward getting in your desired masters program at every college.

I will get in on this. Anyone can send me their personal statements and I need some eyes to look at my final draft. I should be able to review a few a day.

I PM'ed you my comments on your essay. Only some small things, but otherwise it is very well written in content and length.

Sure awash_! Do you want me to take a look at the exact one in your "This is basically the longest cover letter..." thread? Thanks again

Anyone got any comments? I don't know if it is very good, but my main goal is to make it sound at least fluid.

I really found writing this statement of purpose more difficult than I envisioned. Writing seems to be kryptonite even after reading a lot of examples on the internet. I'm applying to an engineering masters and I hope to finish this statement soon. The length is okay at ~800 words but will have to re-write a 500 word for another program. Also I found it difficult writing this because all my research experience is varied in different fields as well as my work engineering experiences. I omitted my freshman robotics research (not as strong as the others anyways) and my engineering summer internship. Any advice would be much welcomed. Technology innovation in the aerospace industry has adapted and achieved so much that the endless possibilities ahead intrigue and entice me to contribute, as well as adapt with it. The creativity and concepts involved, motivates me to pursue further research in the aerospace field. My aspiration to transition into this field has driven me to pursue an extraordinary graduate program that will evolve my knowledge. As a child growing up in the town of XXXX, a small XXX town of less than 8,000 population, dreams of even a technological profession were seen as delusions of grandeur. When my family moved to the suburbs of a city with a population of over a million, every aspect seemed daunting compared to the simple living of our previous ranch home. But even through numerous challenges, my determination to adapt have created me into the engineer I am today. During the course of my mechanical engineering undergraduate study, I was exposed to various courses and research opportunities from robotics to alternative energy that helped engage my interest as a researcher. In my Alternative energy course and undergrad research, I contributed my first technical research paper on “An 80 MW Windfarm in a Location of West Texas”; that utilized a Rayleigh distribution using meteorological site data and incorporated it into a program to optimize power output and rotor efficiency from varying rotor diameter, tower height, and rotor angular velocity. Even though I was in a mechanical engineering program, I always had an interest in propulsion and fluid dynamics, and I choose all the available related electives courses such as “Compressible Flow/Propulsion Systems” and my “Independent study” to explore the fields deeper. My independent study research paper in a numerical simulation of nanoparticle margination to endothelium cell wall in human blood capillaries introduced me to the advance challenge of unique components to fluid mechanics and of setting up my parameters and boundry conditions necessary for instituting CFD models. By the time I finished my undergraduate course work at XXXX University, I had acquired a strong foundation in the theoretical concepts behind mechanical engineering. After graduation, I was offered a position as an engineering project manager at XXXX Company, in XXXX location, a company that manufacturers API 610 centrifugal pumps for oil and natural liquid gas companies. During my over two years there managing multiple projects, my engineering skills enhanced not only through basic pump theory, but through pressure vessel and rotating assembly design using theoretical calculations and computational 3D Cad Solidworks. My insatiable appetite for knowledge, got me further into my company’s research department researching new vertical closed impeller & casing hydraulic designs. As well as, predicting new hydraulic desired performances through pump affinity laws and Lobanoff’s correction factor for varied pump factors of impeller trim, number of stages (with low NPSH and double suction first stages), and customer liquid fluid characteristics. My proudest accomplishment was creating new suction hydraulic castings for the new submersible vertical product line that were core & molded and implemented in offshore rig pump projects. I believe at this point in my life, that now is the right time for me to undertake a Master’s program because I have acquired all the basic knowledge necessary as well as the growth and maturity from working at the professional level to make the jump to the next level. My hope is that my pursuit toward a graduate program at University of XXXX in aerospace engineering will unlock a sector of aerodynamics knowledge to me, while allowing me to contribute my experiences to the fluid mechanics side. Your program has an interesting specialization on fluid mechanics and aerothermodynamics with impressive capabilities in computational aid methods. Study of flame turbulence modeling investigation in the XXXX Laboratory and course program fascinates me coming from a background that dealt with fluid turbulence. Furthermore, I envision this program providing me with the invaluable analytical tools and guidance to shape and validate my mechanical designs using CFD correctly with the right parameters to simulate in field applications. XXXXX University’s reputation of excellence and combination of distinguished interdisciplinary faculty will be the next stepping stone I need in pursuing my aerospace engineering interests. Altogether I am aware of the difficult challenge upcoming and commitment required, I can only smile. Not from fear, but due to trying to contain my aspiration of reinventing and adapting myself to the new technologies of the aerospace industry of tomorrow. I am confident that my knowledge foundation, determination, and aptitude will see me through the challenge ahead, and will contribute to my development as an adaptable professional engineer.