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You’ll need to check out the admissions requirements for the schools and programs you want to apply for. The school I applied to (a small-but-good state school) required a 3.0 for regular admission or a 2.75 for probationary/conditional admission. Some schools and programs require more, and some require less.

You may be able to apply to a school as a non-degree student to take classes for a semester or two, and then apply with those classes added to your GPA. Depending on the school’s policies, sometimes a few credit hours (a semester, maybe two) that aren’t required for your undergraduate degree can be applied toward graduate credit once you are accepted into a program.

You’ll need to focus though and not over-extend yourself with extracurriculars, as fun as they are. I believe that where there’s a will, there’s a way, so look around for programs that you might qualify for or ask your local universities if they offer non-degree programs for potential graduate students.

Good luck!

[ginger]

You meet the GRE, GPA, and writing requirements for Missouri S&T if you wanted to go there. The computer science department is pretty good, the university is very welcoming to international students, and there are a lot of science and engineering degrees to choose from considering it’s a small school.
Good luck!

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I got a 1430 on the old SAT, which was just good enough for a national merit scholarship. I only took it once since the ACT was the preferred exam for the colleges I applied to, and I decided to go to my huge state school. The math was ridiculously easy, and the vocabulary covered was worthless for predicting success in my undergraduate degree (engineering). SAT and ACT scores are used to award scholarships though, so good luck!

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What really helped me was to get study guide software that had puzzles and games on it. I would get comfortable, listen to music, and do ACT study-games every evening after school. I basically did this instead of watching TV. The games kept my interest whereas a regular study guide was horribly boring. I raised my score from 29 to 33 doing this. I wish I could tell you what software I had, but it’s been too many years (it was on a 3.5″ floppy!)

I used the same strategy for the GRE and I saw a major improvement in my vocabulary score within days.

Good luck!

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