How difficult is it to get into Tier 2 Universities

[Mervin2008]

To be honest I am not very sure what the exact defination of Tier 2 is ,so I am assuming its in the ranking range 20-40.Please correct me if I am wrong.

My profile is as follows :

GRE - Total 1520 -Verbal 740/Quant -780 ,AWA -still awaiting the scores,expecting between 4.5 to 5.5

TOEFL - Plan to give it within 3 weeks ,should get over 100

Undergraduate CGPA - 7.62/10

MS aspirations : Electrical and computer Engineering

2 papers presented at at regional colleges in India

My final year project was in Biomedical Imaging and was a IEEE based project.

I have about 2.8 years of work experience though its in a IT company ,not sure if it counts

I have been going through some of the profiles of people who got rejected from Top Universities in Edulix and was wondering If I stood a decent chance at the Tier 2 Universities.I do plan to apply for some Top Universities but I want to build a decent University list ( not too overambitious) before I start applying.

This is a tentative list so far :

1) University of Wisconsin Madison
2) University of Washington ,Seattle
3) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy
4) Arizona State University
4) University of Colorado--Boulder Boulder
5) University of Massachusetts--Amherst Amherst, MA
6) University of Pennsylvania


I would appreciate if someone could give me some advice on this.I am a little dejected seeing so many good profiles rejected in Edulix

[kronique]

Mervin2008,

You should understand that very application is not treated the same way. From what I see, your profile is really good. Of course your work experience will count, in fact, if your applying to a CS/EE program (which I assume you are) then it is a great plus !! Personally, I feel you are being modest in not considering more top schools in your list !

[ObfuscateOften]

Mervin, I'm currently at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst doing my undergrad, and I can't say enough good about the place. I transferred from another school because of financial reasons and did not expect to like it, but I absolutely love this school. I don't know much about the department you're interested in, but I would definitely recommend UMass Amherst.

[Mervin2008]

Thanks for the encouragement Kronique,I am considering going for networking in Electrical and computer science.The reason I am not too confident my work experience will stand me in good stead is because I have been working in datawarehousing .. I am not eligible for a MS in CS( which would make my work experience count) because my under grad was in electronics and communication and I did not have the prerequisite courses in my undergrad which are required for a MS in CS.However as I mentioned this is just a tentative list and I might add a few more top colleges to it.

Once again,thanks for the encouragement

Mervin

[kronique]

Mervin,

Frankly, I don't think what you did in your undergrad is going to affect the entry process too much. From my personal experience, the only think I feel counted towards my admission was my undergrad score which was lesser than your score ! Also, as you have more than a year's work experience, that would be a more valid source of evaluation.
About the prerequiste requirement, its more of a formality issue. I'm sure you must've done quite a few common courses with the CS people. Quite a few of my friends have successfully changed their discipline in a similar way. In fact you can account for your work experience to have created an interest in the field of networking or something of that sort !
All the best anyways !