<p>Thank you cosmicfish for your repost suggestion</p>
<p>I'm applying to IR related programs with one year of full time work experience (legal assistant) that is somewhat relevant to what I want to do. I also well as two internships (one with an NGO in Europe--- if that matters) and three part-time positions that I had as an undergrad under my belt. With these positions I've written a lot of articles and stuff about international topics... so I guess that makes me published.</p>
<p>GRE Q- 630 V- 590 W-4.5</p>
<p>undergrad, top 5 liberal arts college- 3.6
Grad school- MA regional studies at top 10 research university- 3.9</p>
<p>I've have a lot of study abroad experiences though, mostly for research and language study: I've been to Egypt twice (for study/research), Italy three times (again study/research) and Spain (study) and Morocco (language study). Now, I've won a scholarship to study in Kuwait this year.</p>
<p>The schools I'm looking at are WWS, KSG, Yale and possibly Fletcher. My LORs should be solid, from a mix of recent employers and past academic advisors.</p>
<p>I'm a horrible standardized test taker plus am currently broke, so retaking the GRE isn't happening. I honestly don't know if I would do any better. (and no I am not eligible for any of their fee waivers)</p>
<p>So all this is to ask, what do people think about having lots of international experience but being without several years of work experience. I figure I will try and apply and see what happens, but I am interested in other people's perspectives--- and saving myself a few hundred bucks in application and other fees.</p>
<p>No, I don’t have an IR degree, it was an area studies degree with a anthro culture/history focus on that region of the worl— I had intended to get a PHD in anthro after but changed my mind… </p>
<p>At any rate, my first masters degree didn’t involve the type of policy/diplomacy oriented course work that the programs I am now looking to apply to offer.</p>
<p>In short, I think it’s going to be tough with those GRE scores at those schools. Really the only way would be to either get some more work experience (as relevant as possible to the degree) or re-take the GRE. Preferably both. </p>
<p>These are the only programs that offer the coursework that I am interested in doing. I want to be able to take classes on African political systems and unfortunately further down the list the school the fewer options there are for such study. </p>
<p>I will look at few other programs though, give them a closer look, perhaps Global Policy studies at UT Austin LBJ can be added while I take HKS or WWS out? </p>
<p>fiscally speaking applying to tons of schools is not something I can afford to do. Thank you for your response Flyer29.</p>
<p>Yeah–nothing wrong with reaching, but if you’re only going to be applying to a handful of schools it’s better you have a couple of “safety” schools. Though even that is a crapshoot!</p>
<p>There’s still a lot of information one would need to know to see what your chances are. Simply saying that you studied abroad in several countries and had work/internship experience doesn’t really say much. It’s what you did during those experiences that are important. For instance, most grad programs in IR only look at abroad experiences that are longer than 2-3 weeks or even a month. Also, did you do any substantive work as a legal assistant or an intern? Or did you mostly do office work? If your study abroad experience totals say 1 year or more, then I think it does make you stand out as a candidate. Also, if you did some substantive work during your work experiences, then it also helps you out and you wouldn’t really have to worry about your GRE score as much. Otherwise, I would recommend what flyers said - take GRE or gain more work experience or expand your pool of schools that you’re applying for. Hope this helps.</p>