Electrical engineering is one of the popular choices after 12th in India. However, due to the problems of core engineering jobs in India, a good majority of Indian B.Tech graduates either switch to software/IT jobs or opt to study abroad. Without any doubt, the US offers a wide variety of choices in terms of universities and specializations at the graduate level along with cutting-edge research opportunities and job prospects after graduation. When it comes to admissions in the USA, GPA is unarguably one of the most critical factors. In this post, we will look at Harish’s story of getting MS admits from four top-50 engineering schools in the US despite an average GPA.
Harish’s Background

Harish had a pretty decent GRE score of 319 (Q – 165, V – 154, AWA – 3.5). But, his GPA was 7.6 (till 6th semester; at the time of application), which was a kind of average; and he is not from an IIT or NIT. However, he attended the College of Engineering (Guindy), Anna University, which falls among the top private universities in India.
He wanted to pursue a graduate program in the USA at the interface of Electrical and Computer Science engineering and his areas of interest were Robotics, IoT, AI, Embedded Systems, and Computational Intelligence.
Artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and automation are arguably the most exciting and complex areas in the applied field of robotics. So, getting into such a competitive field is not a mean feat at all.
Harish was pretty strong at coding. He had undergone two internships, including one international one in Taiwan. He had completed quite a few relevant online courses and projects as well. All he needed were a few external perspectives to present his application in a better manner.
Harish had initially opted for a one-on-one (online) counselling session with Ramdas Sunder in September 2019. Later, he signed up for a personalized university shortlisting package and eventually upgraded to our end-to-end guidance package for 5 universities.
Harish worked with me on his MS applications – CV, LoR and SoP reviews/editing; and received admits from Arizona State University (Robotics), North Carolina State University (Electrical & Computer Science Engineering), the University of Texas at Dallas (Computer Engineering), and Northeastern University (Electrical-Computer Engineering); he had one rejection from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Here is Harish’s feedback on Stoodnt’s MS admissions consulting services.
MS Electrical Engineering Admits at ASU, NCSU, UTD, NEU with Average GPA
Feedback by Harish KP on MS Admissions Counselling Services
1. What made you contact Stoodnt in the first place (for a 1:1 session)? How was your experience with Ramdas Sunder during the 1:1 session?
2. How did the 1:1 session help you to make a decision for the next steps?
3. What’s your feedback on the Personalized University List?Â
4. Could you please tell us a little bit about your GRE preparation? Would you like to share any advice for future GRE takers?
5. You could have worked on SoP/applications on your own. Why did you think that you need professional SOP services?
6. How did you find the SoP services (brainstorming process, reviews & editing)?
7. We didn’t write your SoP, LoR or CV. We helped you with the draft and helped you to present your application in a better way. Did you find the process useful?
8. Stoodnt’s admissions consulting fee is not among the most expensive ones in the market, but not too cheap as well. Did you find worth it?
9. Quite often MS applicants are students or working professionals and busy with their normal activities (studies, exams or jobs). So, they need flexibility (from the consultant) to work on their applications. How was your experience with Stoodnt?
10. According to you, what’s the advantage of working with independent admission consultants (like Ramdas or myself) over traditional study abroad agencies (or agents)?
The main advantages of working with independent and professional admissions consultants are having trust and transparency, which are not always there with the traditional study-abroad agents. More often than not, they work in favor of the universities and don’t work in the best interest of the students.
11. The whole process has been delivered remotely? There was no face-to-face interaction. Did you face any problem? How was the overall experience with the remote admissions consulting service?
12. Any advice that you would like to share with the future applicants; especially the folks who might be confused – whether to work with an admission consultant or not?
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