<p>I'm currently a junior looking to go to grad school for political science, specifically I want to do research in social choice and game theory applied to poli sci.</p>
<p>I was wondering which schools have poli sci departments that specialize in these fields, I know at least University of Chicago and Wash U. do. </p>
<p>Second would I have a chance of getting into the top schools in this field? I know my interests are pretty specific in the first place. I know going into economics there would be more people doing this kind of work, however, a: I'm more interested in political applications and b: I believe my math would help me for getting into a better poli sci department and hurt me for getting into economics department (due to grades).</p>
<p>Double major: Economics and Political Science
Overall I have a 3.2 gpa,
however I have all As in my poli sci and econ classes.
Math classes I've taken are 3 years of calculus, lin algebra, stats, and real analysis. However, I've gotten Cs in all these.
Currently I am a teaching assistant for an upper level game theory class and plan on doing research this summer. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>EDIT: Also I believe I should have 3 solid letters of rec</p>
<p>Typically those are the programs considered most Quant heavy for formal theory.</p>
<p>Formal theory is extremely heavy on Quant methods, so you might need to retake some of those classes you got C’s in or take some graduate-level courses in probability theory, game theory, and microeconomics. I have two friends (one going to Penn State and another at Rochester) and they both minored in Math and said that it’s almost necessary just to keep up with first years’ coursework.</p>
<p>I was a Math/Econ undergrad and undergraduate game theory was a joke compared to some models being taught at the graduate level (‘n’ player incomplete information models, simultaneity, bounded rationality, etc.) and the key to getting this is understanding stochasticity and probability.</p>
<p>At the current state, your profile probably isn’t competitive to top programs, but you can increase your chances by doing well in graduate courses. If the C’s were mainly flukes or you not trying, demonstrate to adcomms that your abilities are not diagnosed by your grades. If you really did struggle in them, you’re going to have a hard time getting through coursework and quals/comps once you’re in school for formal theory–it only gets harder at the graduate level.</p>
<p>Departments that specialize in formal include Princeton, Rochester, Caltech, Stanford, Stanford GSB, NYU, Harvard, and Wash U. I would not put Chicago very high on that list, despite the presence of a few individual faculty whose work might be relevant.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the response. I believe the low math grades were due to a mix of me being lazy and not putting in the effort and me finding the classes harder than the other classes I’m taking. So hopefully if I dedicate myself to it I should do well if I need to retake them in graduate school. </p>
<p>Would a strong research paper using quant methods and a high quant score on the GRE help to mitigate some of the damage done by low math scores? Also will be taking a mathematic econ course and graduate level quantitative international relations course next semester. </p>
<p>So would I have a chance at any of the say top 13 schools listed on UsNews? I’m very interested in this field and it seems like all the school specializing in it are extremely selective</p>
<p>I think I’ll definitely be applying to Wash U., Rochester, OSU and NYU. I would love to go to Princeton but feel like my low cumulative GPA will especially hurt me there… well even more so than at the other schools. Any information about “lower ranked” schools involved in formal theory would be great too, or would there not be a point since not enough people in the department will be working in the field to make it worthwhile?</p>