<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I'm planning to apply for a masters program in International Studies; however, I have a 3.05 GPA from a prestigious liberal arts college. I double majored in Anthropology and English, in addition to a concentration in Peace and Conflict Studies, co-chaired for one of the most active campus student organizations, won 12 national and regional awards for my sport (not school affiliated), studied abroad in Hungary and interned in France, and have done internships/volunteer work for human rights and international organizations all over the US. I have yet to take the GRE. What are my odds for getting into a top graduate program (ie U of Chicago, Stanford, etc) with a lower academic standing? Any advice would be much appreciated. Should I take time off of school to develop a career? Should I lower my ambition and apply to different places?</p>
<p>You sound somewhat similar to me (besides the sports aspect). There was another thread where two students posted what they had and both got into AU SIS and GW. Here is what I have so far. I posted this on the other thread…</p>
<p>Right now, I am a senior who is about to take one extra semester to minor in philosophy (at Rutgers). I want to go to SIS at AU or GW to study International Policy. However, like most people, I do not have those perfect grades or that Harvard level of success.
So for this coming summer, to raise my credentials, I was planning to study abroad at Korea University (2nd best university in the country and is partner school of AU) to take Intro to Macro (i need precal prereq at my school which I didnt do) and Intro to Philosophy (which will help me take one less class my last semester) and a East Asian IR class relating to Korea. This also comes with an internship opportunity to work in a Korean company for a month before I start the program. I did this program before and I would get special “alumni” status if I did it a second time. </p>
<p>However, after reading one of the posts, I find myself conflicted on whether to instead do the NYU Center for Global Affairs. It seems like a good idea and I also think it will help my chances a lot. It also has the classes I believe what AU is looking for and it looks awesome on your transcript. I live across the river from NYC so it wouldn’t be a problem getting there at all. </p>
<p>If I could, I would do both, however, there are obvious time conflicts with each program. Which program do you think would be the best suited for me?</p>
<p>*GPA: 3.105 (transfered, GPA reset/did Army ROTC first semester, got really sick and had bad first semester) - Still have two more semesters to raise it.
*GRE: didn’t take the GRE, studying the LSAT but not going well so I’m going to drop it soon and switch over to the GRE.
*Political Science/History joint major. Minor in Philosophy (at Rutgers, ranked 1st)
*Studied abroad at Freie University in Berlin in European/German politics and also German language - I still continue with German for 4 semester equivalent. Also moderate fluency in Korean.
*I worked for my study abroad office and for the DAAD (German academic exchange services in NYC).
*I have to rethink who I can ask for a recommendation. I was never the student who visited the professor 24/7. Never researched with a professor either.
*Never failed a class, but I got a C in a math class, a science class and a history class. (two of those Cs are from that bad first semester)
*Was part of the student government at my old university. I was a legislator.
*Took a number of courses for my major regarding IR and the US from Political Science and History. (Conflict Resolution, Causes of War, History of the Cold War etc)
*Only “W” grade I got was from dropping out of the ROTC military courses.
*Worked in Philanthropy in a social fraternity. </p>
<p>So as you can see, I have a lot of ups and downs. I want to have the best possible credentials before I begin to apply to grad schools the end of this year.</p>
<p>How long were the internships? What were your accomplishments?</p>
<p>I think you should apply to at least one dream school and then to less prestigious schools as well, if you have some significant accomplishments. However if they were more week-long things with menial tasks, I would look for some more long-term internships if I were you.</p>
<p>Why not do Peace Corps? There are a lot of great programs out there that have Peace Corps Masters and PhD programs specially designed for RPCVs.</p>