<p>Curious what others think of my chances.</p>
<p>BA in PoliSci from unexceptional large state school; 3.5 GPA in major.
JD from top 5 law school; law review.
I have not taken the GRE yet, but I historically do quite well on standardized tests. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to estimate 780V/730Q (let's ignore the new scoring scale). Might be a little lower, might be a little higher if I take prepping seriously. I assume that, as a lawyer, I should be able to do well on the analytical writing portion as well.</p>
<p>I am interested in political theory and legal institutions, mostly in the abstract but with perhaps some ties to the American experience. I am therefore looking almost exclusively at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Chicago, which all have both top political theory programs and elite law faculties.</p>
<p>Will top marks on the GRE make up for my subpar GPA, especially with my JD in the balance (or will admissions committees likely not care about that)? I may also attempt to publish an article or two before applying, which I imagine could only help.</p>
<p>As a benchmark of sorts, Chicago reports that average GRE scores for a recent class were 638V/698Q/4.85A, and that the students "generally" have undergraduate GPAs of 3.6 and above.</p>
<p>TYIA.</p>
<p>*N.B. I am aware of JSD/SJD programs, but for several reasons I think a PhD is a better option for me if possible.</p>