<p>I don’t think it’s very likely that you will “get lucky” and get a professor who won’t mind a lack of research experience…getting research experience in the social sciences is both standard and easy, especially at a top 30 liberal arts college. It’s absolutely expected of anyone coming straight from undergrad into a PhD program in the social sciences, including political science. I’m not saying don’t apply - but I think that if you truly have 0 research experience, you should apply selectively. Apply only to the programs you really, really would want to attend to minimize costs, and see what happens.</p>
<p>An MPP would be different - they don’t expect research experience; they do want to see some kind of work experience, but your internship experience would probably suffice for many programs.</p>
<p>As for the MA, I’m not 100% sure. I’m in the social sciences but not in political science. I know that in my social science field (psychology), the best thing to do (financially and academically) would be to work for 2-3 years after college as a lab manager or research associate; you could get excellent research experience and another strong letter of recommendation without shelling out the money to get a master’s. But in my other social science field (public health), a person without significant research experience from undergrad would be expected to get an MPH (with some research experience during it) before the PhD. I think that political science is somewhere in the middle - with many people having gotten an MA before the PhD program, and many others going straight from undergrad or getting some research-based work experience beforehand but no master’s.</p>
<p>I think you should discuss with your advisors at your LAC early in the fall - a professor(s) in your department you trust. There are many full-time, research-related jobs you can do with a BA in a social science field and some quantitative analysis skills. Many nonprofits, NGOs, government agencies, and think tanks will hire a BA in political science who knows their way around a stats package - or even just Excel - to crunch some numbers and do some research tasks for them, and this kind of research experience can be valuable for a PhD program.</p>
<p>An MPP could potentially be adequate preparation for a doctoral program - but not necessarily in political science. People with MPPs can get a PhD in political science, but the admission is going to be based upon your preparation in political science and you’d need to articulate that you understand that a PhD in political science is different from studying public policy. An MPP could be good preparation for a PhD in public policy (like [NYU</a> Wagner’s](<a href=“Search | NYU Wagner”>http://wagner.nyu.edu/doctoral) or [HKS’s[/url</a>], which requires a lot of quantitative prep), or a program like [url=<a href="http://heller.brandeis.edu/phd/]Brandeis’s">http://heller.brandeis.edu/phd/]Brandeis’s</a> PhD in Social Policy](<a href=“http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/phd/phd-in-public-policy]HKS’s[/url”>http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/phd/phd-in-public-policy). NYU Wagner has doctoral student profiles up; most of the people have master’s in something (usually some kind of policy degree: MPP, MPA, MPH in health policy, etc.) but they do have a few students who have just a BA and some work experience at the kinds of places I listed above.</p>
<p>The thing to remember, though, is that these two PhDs will lead to somewhat different career choices. A PhD in political science can teach in a political science department anywhere - and could also teach in any other department where his/her interests fit (so in a school of public policy, a department of communications, a school of public health, etc.) A PhD in public policy, however, in most cases cannot teach in a department of political science. They can teach in a school of public policy and related professional fields (public health, public administration, international affairs, communications). PhDs in both fields can also go into non-academic work; in those cases, the PhD in public policy might have the slight edge, but it would really depend on background experience and skills. The edge comes from the fact that PhDs in public policy easily cross the professional with the academic, and many graduates are expected to go into non-academic fields, so advisors may be more sympathetic to you doing a non-academic internship over the summer or doing part-time consulting work at a nonprofit or something. In a straight academic poli sci program - especially in the top tier - the expectation is going to be that you are training to be a professor, even if that’s not the reality.</p>
<p>With all that said - there is so much more that goes into your application than just your GPA or your GRE, so there’s no way to “chance” you for top schools. I can say that your GPA and your GRE scores definitely won’t keep you out of a top tier school. But if you apply to a top tier PhD program, you’ll be competing with people who have on average 2+ years of research experience and, in many cases, an MA and/or some work experience post-college. I’m not saying that you won’t get in (I was accepted into my PhD program straight from undergrad, and I was the only one in my cohort and one of only a small handful of people in the last ~6 years who was), but that’s who you will be competing with!</p>
<p>Most of this is dependent on fit, too. You won’t get into GWU if you want to study political economy of East Africa and there’s no one there doing anything like that.</p>