<p>I'm a senior in college at an American university and I'm really interested in pursuing a masters in political science and a foreign institute. I'd like to work as a war correspondent for Reuters when I graduate (I know a masters isn't necessary but it's something I'd like to do). My GPA is only a 3.3 and my transcripts in general are average, not good not bad. I've decided to take a year off and try to work for a non-profit preferably based in developing countries. The one I'm looking at is based in San Francisco and Mali. Would having that experience as a part of my resume help me get into better schools, or will my "meh" gpa be too much of an obstacle? (I'm thinking University College of London or Trinity College Dublin)</p>
<p>I don’t know a lot about admissions to masters programs, because I’m only applying to college myself this year. However I think that volunteering in a developing country will never look bad on your resume, whether you’re applying for a university or a job.
Also, consider going to some lesser known schools in Europe. For example, Leiden university in Holland also has a political science program.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Go back to the main page where all of the forums are listed, and scroll down to find the forum for graduate school. Someone there is likely to have ideas for you.</p>
<p>But truth be told, your own department at your own college/university is likely to be the best source of grad school advice. The people there know people who know something about your target grad programs. The academic world is a very small one.</p>
<p>If your UG is in something akin to political science (history, econ, etc.), you would have an excellent chance of admissions at Trinity, and a reasonably good chance of UCL (though their Masters courses are not quite what you are talking about) even w/out a years experience- though it will do you no harm to have it. If you apply to either, do it relatively early (deadline for Trinity isn’t until June of next year), b/c housing for postgrads is very limited, and although it goes first to international students there are plenty of those. </p>