<p>I am currently a junior and considering attending graduate school for a phd in political science. Although I have done well (3.75 gpa) thus far, my transcript is entirely random. I couldn't decide what I wanted to major in, so I have taken classes ranging from economics to web software development to psychology to German, etc. Since I did not declare my major until the end of my sophomore year and studied abroad during the fall of my junior year, I'm still unfortunately taking intro classes as a senior. Will this drastically affect my chances at top 10 schools?</p>
<p>Maybe. It really depends on how well you are prepared for your specific research area - do you have any idea what it is, yet? Think about the professors in your departments of interest, and what they study - given your own school’s resources, how well prepared are you to study under them? One rule-of-thumb I like is this: Ideally, you should not need to teach any undergrad-level courses your prospective advisor teaches - if you cannot match up their classes to A-graded courses on your transcript, then you are probably behind compared to your competition.</p>
<p>Thanks. I am writing an honors thesis this semester in a very specific field of International Relations under the mentorship of a professor who is respected in his field and who graduated from two of the universities I’m considering. My undergraduate thesis is in no way related to what I would like to study at graduate school though–I have been leaning towards political economy. I have already covered some upper division classes in economics (though, no math) and political science, but I’m curious as to how much specialization graduate schools actually look for. Any ideas?</p>