

Ask HN: Getting into masters at Stanford/MIT - vonbraun

One of the things that I really want to do is to go to a university of the likes of Stanford and MIT. I don&#x27;t want to go to them to say I have been there, but to see what the atmosphere is like. I am bad at explaining, but PG has a kind of relevant essay[1].
My problem is that I have already done my bachelors (in EE, finished last year). It was done in a not very highly ranked uni in Australia and my GPA wasn&#x27;t amazing - its about equivalent to 3.5&#x2F;4.<p>I know HN is full of people who have been to these universities so I thought I would ask here for advice. My current plan is to try out some ambitious side project with high altitude UAVs (which I wanted to do regardless) and somehow use that in my application. But really I have no idea.<p>[1] http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.paulgraham.com&#x2F;cities.html
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dshanahan
Went to undergrad at Stanford, and spent a few years editing admissions essays
to grad programs at the top tier schools as a side gig.

Admissions are extremely (mindblowingly) competitive, and without a stellar
GPA I would suggest you're on the right track in focusing on high quality real
world experience. Obviously if you don't end up in grad school, the experience
will benefit you either way.

As to the atmosphere, I think you'll find Stanford and MIT, and the others,
are very different from one another.

