Is it possible to get a Masters in a good Western School given my qualifications?

[Simeon]

My name is Simeon.

For my undergraduate degree I finished with a third class (CGPA = 2.36/5)

I hold a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. In my final year, I carried out an award-winning project in low-cost robotics where a robotic arm was designed using locally sourced materials. An IEEE paper from the project can be found here. Other fields in which I have interests and have made contributions including conference papers and a poster are Strategic Foresight/Future Studies (paper at the ATPS 2012), the African Maker Movement( poster at FAB 10 2014  , paper at ICCIG 2015 ) and Climate Change.

I scored 332/340 in GRE and 114/120 in TOEFL last year.

I was primarily interested in a multidisciplinary masters like Robotics

However it seems my poor grade has prevented me from being admitted for a research Masters.

Last year I applied to seven US schools(Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Worcester, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and St Louis) but got no admission offer.

I am currently open to other Western countries in addition to the US.

Is there anything I can do? Do I stand any chance this year?

[DBear]

Hi Simeon, doesn't look like you have any disqualifying factors, but I think it would be more accurate to share the GRE breakdown.

I think that if you include all your academic accomplishments in your sop, you still have a chance.

[Simeon]

Hi DBear,

Thanks for response.

My GRE breakdown is as follows : Verbal = 165, Quantitative = 167, Analytical writing = 3.5.

As regards the SOP, there are those who advise that one should only talk about accomplishments related to the course you are applying to. Supposedly this shows that you have focus and know what you want to do. What do you think about this?

[DBear]

I think your GRE scores are more than adequate, I don't think they will be an impediment. 

Your SOP is more important then as a tool to show that you have research capabilities even if your GPA is not stellar. 

I agree that writing about accomplishments most relevant to your research interests and your proposed field of study is important. However, if you have room to do so, I think that writing about research-related accomplishments that are not completely related will not be bad either since that is still linked to your potential to do well in the field. If you craft the essay well, you can tie in these other accomplishments to show that they are make you a better candidate. Also, I think it is important to choose the right schools. If you are focused on getting a terminal MA, but the schools you apply to would prefer students to go on to a PhD, then you may need to look at other schools. 

Good luck!