MS in Industrial Engg - Profile evaluation please

Hey this is my profile.

UG (in Mech Engg) percentage - 67.4%
GRE- 300 ( v-145 and q-155)
TOEFL- 102
Work exp at Mahindra and Mahindra ( Automotive Sector) for 2 years

below are few universities that i have looked upon. please let me know about my chances and also it would be helpful if you could suggest a few more.

Uni of Michigan - Ann Arbor/ Dearborn
Uni of Wisconsin - Madison/ Milwaukee
Uni of Texas - Houston
SUNY ,Buffalo
Oregon State Uni

So suggest a few more that match my profile.
Thank You

Hi Brinda, Not sure if you finalized your university list. Though your GRE scores are slightly low, you still have a good Eng% and work experience counts a lot. If you work hard on your SoP and reco letters, you should easily make it to the top 20 schools. Mich-Dearborn and Wisc-Milwaukee shouldn't be in your list. Assuming that you want to focus in production systems/ supply chain, you can look at these programs:
- Int Mfg Sys Eng at NC State
- USC
- Arizona State
- Ohio State
- Mich Ann Arbor (will be tough to get in, but can give a shot)
- Wisc-Madison (Will be tough, but can give a try)

More importantly, also consider what you want to do after MS, and pick the school based on the opportunities offered in terms of internships, jobs, etc. In the current market, international students need to do a lot of planning and preparation to land a good job. They are out there, but you need to work hard.

Thanks. Is there any univ (need not be in the top 20) that will definitely give me an aid in my admit/I20, and not after I join there?

Im not referring to the univ in my list. Just ANY university.

Hi Brinda,

The funding offered to MS students is either through RA, TA, or Tuition Discount/Waiver. For a professor to offer an RA upfront just based on the application, the applicant should have an exceptional profile (IIT/BITs, Research Exp, proven research Exp with publications). Other than that, no professor would like to commit to a student. With your profile, you will have to prove to the professors that you can work for them - only way to show this is through your work in the 1st/2nd sem. Unless you have prior teaching experience and superlative Speaking scores, TAs are offered to PhDs. Generally, PhD applicants will always get priority to funding.

Tuition waivers/discounts are offered to attract top quality students. So, low ranked programs would offer these to attract students who typically get into the top 10 programs. So, with your profile, the only schools who could potentially offer funding upfront would be low-ranked schools. Considering that IE itself is not the hottest field for international students (you have to compete with local grads), getting such degree from low ranked school will not be of much help career wise - unless, you just want a Masters and then want to shift to an IT consulting job.

So, the short answer is that you wouldn't find even a top 50 program who can offer funding upfront. Due to increase in MS student in-take in almost all schools, most MS students aren't getting funding in the last 10 years. Keep these points in mind as you evaluate your options. Good luck!!