What are my chances at Stanford and Berkeley?

[thecandidate]

Hi, I am a senior undergrad. student from Istanbul. I am planning to apply to the management science and engineering program at Stanford and to the information systems management program at UC Berkeley. Here is my profile:

Graduated from computer science department of a major private university of turkey with 3.8 gpa, which is the highest gpa in the department history.
Currently continuing the second major, which is business administration, with 3.9 gpa, ranking 2/150 in the class.
GRE: Q800 V500, don't know the writing section yet.
toefl: 104
w.experience: two internships in two major international IT companies.

I will appriciate if you take time to evaluate my chances at any of these programs. Thanks in advance.

[Ancalagon The Black]

Err, pardon me, but how does the education system in Turkey work? As in, are you guys permitted to complete 2 undergraduate majors? How much time does it take? Also, how did you convert your GPA to a US 4.0 equivalent?

If you applied for MS programs in these, then you will be selected I reckon but don't count your chickens before they hatch

[thecandidate]

You are right but still it does not harm to send some positive energy to affect the admission committees decision

The system in my university (actually in most universities in Turkey) is exactly the same as it is in USA (my university is part of a US network). I did not convert my GPA into US standard because it already is computed on a 4.0 grade scale, so I as a turkish student am luckier than you guys in India with respect to the necessity of converting the GPA . In Turkey, you are allowed to study two majors simultaneously, if you satisfy certain conditions (not to fall below a certain level of GPA etc.).

Actually the system here is a modified version of US system, there are slight differences, though one can omit those.

[Ancalagon The Black]

Damnation. I wish I had opportunities to do a double major !! But, we are not allowed to here at all

[Zymonick]

I am only another graduate applicant... so I dont have a real clue how the admission process work, so take my advice with care.

There are two cases:
Either there is someone on the Commitee who knows Turkey, your school and your recommendors...then he will decide whether you get in or not and if you are really as good as you claim, you should get it.

The other case, which is much more likely is that nobody has a clue, so it is impossible for them to evaluate your grades. Even if you are the best ever in your department, if nobody has ever heard about your University, this is not gonna help you anywhere.
Then it comes down to recommendations. If you get guy with some standing in the States to write a nice letter for you, you might still get in... if not, you need a lot of luck.

[thecandidate]

zymonick, thanks for the reply,
at stanford there are two or three turkish lecturers in the faculty of the program and also i have a contact person in the faculty, but at berkeley i don't know any turkish person related to that program (still there are some in other departments at berkeley). it is quite possible that they decide the way you described but that is a little annoying, in that my application will be evaluated with certain amount of subjection according to the particular turkish person that is asked as you said.

[Ancalagon The Black]

Well, I am pretty sure that adcoms know the major schools in any country. for instance, check the UW Madison website. They have a comprehensive listing of foreign schools which they accept there AND most importantly, the perception of the school in the eyes of the adcom.

For instance, they regard my school as a "good school" though what a "good school" in context to USA, I don't know. Anybody care to elucidate?
I posted the link here once.