<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I am thinking about applying to the following for a doctoral program in either Political Science with a focus on International Relations or Political Psychology.</p>
<p>University of Wisconsin – Madison
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
Cornell University
Brown University
Duke University
University of California – Irvine
University of California – Los Angeles
University of California – San Diego
University of Washington
Washington State University
George Washington University</p>
<p>My proverbial stats are as follows:</p>
<p>GPA from the University of South Carolina Honors College: 3.89
Old GRE Scores: Verbal (630 or 90%); Quantitative (750 or 82%); Writing (5.0 or 87%).
New GRE Scores: Verbal (164 or 94%); Quantitative (156 or 74%, ew); Writing (5.5 or 96%)</p>
<p>I have done a fair amount of stuff on campus research wise (I've been involved with four research projects as an undergraduate, one in the political science department researching failed states, their recovery and recurrence and three in the sociology department, including my thesis research, focusing on perceptions of social dilemmas, altruism and morality among other things). I am pretty active on campus with my Amnesty International Chapter and interned in the D.C. office of Amnesty two semesters ago with the Security and Human Rights Campaign.</p>
<p>I am worried about my chances of admission to a doctoral program in graduate school coming fresh out of my undergraduate career, with my weaker quantitative scores and my relative lack of experience. I have read the student profiles of admitted students in the Duke Ph.D department, for instance, and feel vastly subpar in my own qualifications given their work experience (most have started up nonprofits or their own businesses already) or have studied abroad for many years or already have their MA (most of the programs I am looking at only offer terminal doctoral degrees, otherwise I would just get a MA before trying to get a Ph.D.) Anyone who is in any of the schools I mentioned care to discuss whether or not they think I have a viable shot at admission based on my stats and involvement (I also do other stuff besides Amnesty but didn't want to bother posting my whole resume on here), especially anyone who is concentrating in Political Psychology. Also, if there is a good Political Psychology school in the US out there that I am not applying to, let me know please. Thanks!</p>