I worked with an M.N.C developing web applications in Java/J2EE related technologies(includes JSF,struts,hibernate etc.) now I quit my job to pursue Graduate Studies in the U.S.A. So I am a student in the middle of my Graduate studies. I had enough of developing mere CRUD applications in J2EE now I want to work in something exciting. The problem is I can't say what exactly but I can give you an examples.

Say developing new JDK libraries or writing a kernel for some O.S. or something like that.

So I have five questions here.

1. Is it true that people in R & D often use C++ because of higher performance in that case should I consider switching my platform to C/C++?
2. How should I use my time I have one year to graduate to prepare myself for Jobs Interviews for such positions? (e.g. Reading books on Algorithms etc.)
3. How do I know about these jobs and how do I apply to those Jobs?
4. Is it the right time for me to think about Jobs?
5. Am I over ambitious because I am not in a Ivy League, just a normal school? (My GPA is not so high unfortunately).