Hello everyone,
My name is Ly and I am senior soon in May 2017. I am currently in preparation to apply the MA programs in International Relations at American University, GMason Univeristy, and UChicago. I just took the GRE earlier today and scored terribly and then I found this forum so I just want to ask for some tips and experiences. Here is my background
International Student from Vietnam
Languages: fluent in English and Vietnamese
Majors: Communication Studies and Peace and Justice Studies at Pace University in New York city. Minor in History
GPA: 3.65 as of now (will boost it to around 3.75 by graduation)
Courses (many social science courses including criminal justice and conflict resolution with extensive research experience)
GRE: Quant=137( this is embarrassing for me to state but my math skill is very limited, but definitely take the GRE again in December to boost my chance) Verbal: 155( this isnt a good number but it’s more than what I expected for my first try) Analytical: still waiting for the score but I did well and expected a score of >4
Honors n Awards: Studying at Pace with a 30% scholarship, Golden Key Honor Society and Alpha Chi
Clubs n Activities: Yearbook club, law society, Democracy analyst( develop civic engagement curriculum to teach at local high school), on campus activism, plus a lot of off campus volunteer experiences at homeless shelters, court houses, and NYC mayor office
Professional development: 2 times Model United Nations delegates (extensive research experience since MUN at my school is a class taken for grade not a club)
Internships: interned at a law firm, a marketing firm, and a real estate firm
Study Abroad in Barcelona, Spain and very well-traveled
LORs: I will ask 2 of my favorite professors to write me recommendation letters (One of them is an alumna of IR at American U)
Concern: my most important concern is the fact that I havent taken any college level economic class and it seems that all 3 schools would want students with economic backgrounds
P/s: I am sorry for my long inquiry, I really want to get into one of these schools and I panicked after performed poorly on the GRE. Any advice is very much appreciated, THANKS YOU ALL
You usually need 3 letters of recommendation, so start working on a third one.
With a low quantitative scores (and mediocre verbal scores) and no classes in economics, I think you’re not a very competitive candidate, especially at the great programs you mentioned. Your grades are good, which is good. Your activities seem pretty good, too, although whether they’re enough is debatable depending on the program. I think you’re on the precipice. Getting those GRE scores up and taking some economics classes will go a long way towards improving your chances, particularly at American and Chicago.
Many international relations programs prefer students with some work experience between undergrad and grad - the average age tends to be between 24 and 26, indicating students who have taken 3-5 years to work before returning to school. Students who get in straight from undergrad tend to have a LOT of internship and leadership experience on campus. Yearbook Club and the homeless shelter volunteering won’t matter very much. The internship at the real estate firm and marketing firm probably won’t matter very much for IR; the law firm might, depending on what you did there and what kind of law it was. The other activities are more closely related, especially Model UN, maybe the mayor’s office, maybe the courthouses, maybe the democracy analyst stuff.
Go ahead and apply to the programs, but I’d also start preparing for a Plan B, which should be to apply for some jobs in IR and work a few years before trying again.
Thank you so much for your advice. I just have one semester left for my undergrad that I dont have space to take economic classes. I started applying for the schools I mentioned already and they all ask for 2 recommendations. I just got an offer interning for a mayor campaign and will start soon in a couple weeks. I am trying to get my GRE score up next months. Hopefully it’ll be better this time. I am also applying 4 some schools outside of the US but those are hard to get into too so for now I only have 1 back up school. My situation is complicated bacause I am an international student, so I only have 2 months after graduation to get a job or my visa becomes invalid and I will have to continue on to Grad school or leave the country. This is the reason why I am applying to Grad schools straight after college.