victor.s.andrei

No. Letters from "the big leagues" that run along the lines of "Oh, I knew this student, blah blah, and he would make a good graduate student..." are worth a lot less than letters from professors, researchers, etc. at "no name" schools that actually show some depth. That said, depending on the program, your GPA can be weighted by the undergraduate school you attended, especially if the adcom at the graduate school you are applying is familiar with the school.

Have you contacted the other schools to request an update on the status of your application?

Look at the fundamental courses in a physics or mechanical/aerospace engineering undergraduate degree. I'd say that, with a civil engineering background, you probably took some of them. Then, go take some non-degree graduate courses in physics or aerospace engineering at a local school. Bonus points if you take a few applied mathematics classes. As for research, you can certainly try to get involved, but if you're going to approach a professor to supervise your research, you might want to start reading papers in your intended field of study first. That way, you can come in with some research ideas and questions -- even if they're no good, they show initiative. The only problem for you is that the two fields you seem interested in are enormous, so you might want to narrow your interests down a bit to limit the number of research papers you will have on your desk. Also, instead of shifting straight into physics or aerospace engineering, why not try to figure out a way to leverage your background (engineering with finance) along with your new-found interest? Did you try picking up a financial position working for an aerospace company or a defense contractor?

One: what class are you failing? Is it related to your graduate school study? Did you reach out to your academic advisor? Two: did you reach out to the graduate schools that offered you admission and ask them about the impact of poor grades in your last semester? The worst thing that could happen is that you fail a class, the offers get revoked, etc. That's not the end of the world though - failing and not getting up **is** the end of the world, though. As for non-degree courses: I've heard good things about non-degree courses. In fact, I'm taking them right now, as I'm preparing to apply for a MS program at the school where I'm taking them, and my undergrad gpa wasn't stellar (it wasn't completely atrocious, either, but it's still an albatross around my academic record) despite being from a public Ivy with a very good reputation. + Pros: you can pick up LORs from faculty at the target school (big plus) and demonstrate that you can handle your target school's coursework (big plus). - Cons: you're on your own for funding. (Solution: find an employer that offers tuition assistance and is flexible with work-life balance. Bonus points if your position at the employer is related to your field of study.) Also, watch out for transfer credit limits. Some schools only allow you to transfer in a certain number of credit hours, and that limit includes courses taken as a non-degree student. Best wishes - you are still in a good spot, just don't stress out too much, and bad grades are **not** the end of the world.

Kudos on your master's degree. Working is not pointless if it's in a research-oriented position (that's at least tangentially related to what you want to do) at a big corporation that's paying for your master's degree from computer science at a mid-range public university. Go find that employer, and get them to pay for your master's in computer science or at least a few basic non-degree courses (algorithms, operating systems, computer networks). Then, try again.

Several things you didn't mention: what type of graduate programs you were applying to (master's vs. PhD) and where (i.e., what schools). The admissions committee's focus is going to differ based on the individual department and the type of degree. If you were applying for a PhD (since you have a master's degree), then what might have bothered the admissions committees was your ability to conduct research, given your low GPA. What classes did you mess up in...algorithms? Data structures? Computer architecture? You also didn't mention whether you did a master's thesis. Also, Azazel is right - LORs make a big difference. One of my colleagues had a 2.8 but several REUs, including one where he impressed a professor who took a bet on him when others wanted to say no. He just got into one of the schools where did an REU, CS PhD with a full fellowship, no restrictions - and why? Because the professor he impressed went to bat for him.