<p>Hi everyone, I was hoping someone could help me identify PhD programs in Political Science/IR that have nontraditional subfields, such as democratization and development or international law/organizations. </p>
<p>I am particularly interested in programs that semi-routinely admit students with backgrounds outside the social sciences. Since I was not a polisci major, I fear I will not be competitive in the more traditional programs. Also, any programs that put some weight on professional experience in the IR field would be great. </p>
<p>I am particularly interested in NYU's PhD in Law and Society, does anyone know how competitive it is to get in? My grades/GREs are nothing outstanding (though if you calculate only related coursework, my GPA is 4.0).</p>
<p>I am going to apply to MA programs as well. But I would like to add some PhD programs to the list. Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>undergrad major won't affect you at all in terms of admissions. Can't help much in terms of specific programs - figure out what scholars you like and see where they are, and go from there...</p>
<p>I've heard differently regarding undergrad major. But anyway...</p>
<p>I have already compiled my list of scholars I would like to work with, but my area of interest is a small, nascent subfield of political science, and my options for a perfect match are limited, espcially since the majority of schools with scholars in my field are top-15 programs. </p>
<p>I am now looking more broadly for departments that specialize in the aforementioned fields.</p>
<p>Brandeis is supposedly big on democratization studies, how do they rank as a political science department? They seem to have a good placement record. Is it very competitive to get in?</p>
<p>If anyone has any other suggestion as to which schools to take a look at, I would be grateful.</p>
<p>From my experience at top 3 department, I got in with ZERO political science classes on my transcript, several other members of my cohort were not political science majors as undergrads. Most were, but a decent number were not trained as political scientists before grad school. We did, however, have letters from people who could talk about our ability to do social science...</p>
<p>Brandeis is a pretty good department - or that is my sense from going to another school in the Boston area. NYU is certainly better thought of, but I don't know about the Law and Society program as opposed to the political science department.</p>
<p>Undergrad in interdisciplinary non-poli sci program, liberal arts college, 3.3 GPA
MA in different interdisciplinary program, mid-tier mostly professional school, 3.9 GPA
GRE combined 2300+
No relevant work experience.</p>
<p>sorry - I took the GRE so long ago it was still the paper version with 3 sections and no essay. 800Q/790V.</p>
<p>Letters of recommendation from people who the admissions committee knows, and test scores will get your file deep into the process - after that it's more of a crapshoot...</p>