Top-ranked schools with these qualifications?

[pinary]

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?

[belowthree]

Self-funded? You have a good chance.

Your main weakness now seems to be lack of applicable research experience and specific research interest. But you're off to a good start.

Which country is this, by the way? You said flagship school for your country, but if you don't tell us which country it is we have no idea what that would mean. Also what's your rank with your current master's GPA? It seems lower than I'd expect...

[pinary]

Self-funded? You have a good chance.

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..

Your main weakness now seems to be lack of applicable research experience and specific research interest. But you're off to a good start.

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)

Which country is this, by the way? You said flagship school for your country, but if you don't tell us which country it is we have no idea what that would mean.

Sorry for being non-specific. I'm from Turkey And here's my school: http://tinyurl.com/n5l7kd

Also what's your rank with your current master's GPA? It seems lower than I'd expect...

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

[belowthree]

Sounds like you have a good plan. Not sure if it'll work, but you seem to be moving in the right direction, so good luck!