<p>I just took the GRE today, I was slightly disappointed in my score but I am mostly glad to be done with it. Can anyone help me decide where to apply for PhD study? I like Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Florida State, Georgia, Brown, and Penn. If there are others in a similar vain that you think I should look at please let me know. Thank you.</p>
<p>Major: Political Science
GPA: 4.0
GRE:1240
GREV:570
GREQ:670
GREA:?
University: Tennessee Technological University
Ranked 33rd in US News Universities-Master's (South): Top Schools(nothing to write home about)</p>
<p>Yeah, I thought it was kinda low also, but is GPA not more important than GRE? Either way I guess it would be a fine idea to dig deeper into the rankings for a school in which I have a good shot. What do you think of UMass, Penn State, UConn. My main concern is that I would like to focus my study on the European Union and universities with professors in this area are scarce. Syracuse has one, that is why it is my first choice. Umass has a few professors who specialize in European politics, so if that is realistic that would likely be my second choice.</p>
<p>GPA and GRE, I would say, are equally weighted, in that they are used together. A high GPA with low GRE scores tells the adcom that your grades are inflated. A low GPA with high GRE scores tells them you're lazy. I'm not saying you're any of these things, but that is how it will be seen. One doesn't really "make up" for the other.</p>
<p>I believe that my verbal score is low because I was raised in a very rural area the only people who I was exposed to regularly that had college education were teachers. That being said, I did not attempt to improve my vocabulary on my own either.(At least until I started studying for the GRE) My quant score is right about average for Syracuse and Vandy, according to the folks I have spoken with at either institution.</p>
<p>GRE is not the most important factor in applying to grad schools (personal statement and writing sample are probably most important). In any case, it is true that political science programs are relatively very competitive and successful applicants tend to exhibit admirable GRE scores. If you think you are underprepared to compete for a spot in top schools, it might not be a bad idea to do the masters first, since that will give you time to work on your critical reading skill and develop research ideas. I can't comment on the schools you mentioned because I don't know them well.</p>
<p>If your main interest is the European Union, why are you applying only to American universities? Professors in that area may be scarce in the United States, but they are a dime a dozen in Europe.</p>
<p>The most important thing for admissions will be your recommendation letters, and the test scores. Test scores let the committee cut the files down to a manageable size VERY quickly, and then the letters (and who wrote them) really matters. </p>
<p>The schools you list are VERY different: FSU is almost all statistical in emphasis, Penn will have almost none, and so will Brown. What kind of work do you want to do?</p>
<p>Based on your scores, I would guess Penn and Brown might be reaches, but UMass or Vandy or Syracuse or UConn (especially) might be more reasonable. Penn State is pretty competitive, and mostly quant emphasis in the faculty.</p>
<p>And nobody in Europe with a few exceptions does rigorous political science on the EU - they just bloviate about how wonderful or how undemocratic it is - and all agree that it is unique and can't be studied in any systematic way...</p>