<p>Hi everyone, </p>
<p>I'm originally from the US, but did my undergrad in the UK, at the University of St Andrews. My degree was a four year degree, which is atypical for British universities and I therefore got a Masters degree (an MA (Hons) in International Relations. I know St Andrews isn't as well known in the US as Oxbridge, but it's ranked as the 4th best university in the UK, and has a strong IR department. </p>
<p>I'm still in the UK at the moment, but I'm looking at applying for grad schools in the States. I would really like to do a joint degree in Law and an IR-related discipline starting in Autumn 2011. My frontrunner is the JD/MSFS at Georgetown, but I'm also considering Johns Hopkins, SIPA (although I don't know if I will have enough work experience), Princeton, etc. </p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone could tell me what my chances are based on my info? Thanks in advance! Here are my stats so to speak:</p>
<p>-MA (Hons) in IR (degree classification is a strong 2:1, equivalent to a GPA of 3.7-3.8--I'm currently checking with my uni for the exact equivalency)
-Worked in Immigration Law at a private company in London for 1 year after graduation
-Currently completing a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) at the College of Law, London (GDL--an exclusively British qualification, essentially it's a law conversion for students who didn't do law as an undergrad here....one would normally follow the GDL with an additional one year course that would allow you to practise as a solicitor/barrister in the UK--however, legal education is incredibly different in the UK than the US, so I will be starting from scratch if I do a JD)
-Secretary and then President of a Habitat for Humanity group at uni, organised a trip for a student group to Malawi to work with a local Habitat affiliate
-Interned with the CSTPV (Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence) at the Uni of St Andrews, mainly conducted research
-Interned with the CPCS (Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies), also at St Andrews
-Involved with organising talks for the Law and Justice Forum, a student run society that organises talks on topics of interest involving human rights and legal/political issues
-Monitor human rights abuses of lawyers and defenders around the world by drafting factual reports and intervention letters for the Law Society of England and Wales
-Representative for the Free Representation Unit, which means that I represent people in Employment and Social Security Tribunals in the UK
-Worked on case summary projects for a Human Rights organisation, Interights
-Essay Competition Chair and Alternate Chair for External Communications for the College of Law Student Law Review
-GRE: Analytical 6.0, Quantitative 740, Verbal 650 (I took this without studying for it, on a bit of a whim, so I plan on taking it again this Spring and hope that my Verbal and Quantitative marks will improve)
-I studied Russian at Uni, and lived in St Petersburg for a semester</p>
<p>My concerns are that as of late my extra curriculars have been very skewed towards Law, as I'm studying law at the moment. Also, I've not had the opportunity to do any internships--in my experience, UK universities don't provide the opportunities to intern alongside studying (at least not at St Andrews). Over the next year, I'm trying to arrange some internships, but would it be better to try to work in paid employment full-time, or to do internships? I'm trying to arrange something with Amnesty, HRW or another NGO or think tank, if possible...</p>
<p>I've also never studied economics...at uni, I was only ever able to study three subjects (as that's the way the system is set up), so I studied Russian, History and IR for the first two years, Russian and IR the third, and only IR for my fourth year. I know that most places allow you to complete micro/macro econ before enrolling, but will it be a disadvantage for my application?</p>
<p>Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I have two references from my university (one is a tutor I had for two different modules and one is the head of the IR department). However, in my experience, Professors/Lecturers at British universities are much more reserved than their American counterparts. There is less opportunity to get to know them on a personal basis, and interaction tends to be very formal. I'm therefore worried that my reference letters will be weaker than those who did their undergrad in the US....do you think this will be the case, or will US grad schools be aware of the difference? I'm hoping to get a third reference from an internship over the summer, but in case I can't I'm a bit worried. </p>
<p>I'm also planning on taking my LSATs in October and am not going to accept anything less than a 175 (or so I'm telling myself.... </p>
<p>Any tips, advice, strategies anyone has to offer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!</p>