Application Improvement

[BryanEhlers]

I'm a junior majoring in electrical engineering and computer science minor, and have 3 semesters of undergrad left. My GPA is 3.57. I attend a university with a pretty small EE department (maybe top 75). My question is what can I do to improve my graduate school application to make myself attractive to some more top schools. I'm interested in embedded systems, electronics, etc. I'm currently a TA for an EE course. I have not done any research experience. Will having no research experience automatically put me back when applying to top programs?

Also, I was wondering how important is it to graduate schools how I perform on EE and CS courses as opposed to other un-related courses? I originally was premed track but hated it. Nevertheless, I took chemistry through O-chem II and a semester of biology that I got B in Biology, and B in O-Chem I, B in my first Chem course. Will this negatively affect me?

Thank you for any and all advice that you can give to me

[rleonard]

This is purely from my own experience with grad school:

Make sure you meet the grad program's minimum requirements. Then find the person(s) you want to work with and build a relationship. Ask what is important to them, find out if they're a good fit, show them you're awesome, etc. Then when you apply, they can vouch for you and your chances of getting in go up a lot. It seems to be a who-you-know game more than anything. Naturally, that varies by program. When in doubt, stalk some current or former students from that program.