Political Science PhD Programmes in the US

Graduate School
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<p>Hello - I've spent a little bit of time reading some earlier posts that were along the same lines as above, but I am hoping for some advice or recommendations specific to my situation.</p>

<p>This November, I completed a BA majoring in History, International Relations and Political Science at a fairly middle-of-the-pack Australasian university (they're not really ranked here). My GPA was similarly pretty average, if that - 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, if I've converted correctly. In 2011, I will be starting a MA in Political Science at the same university; it consists only of a thesis (30,000 to 40,000 words) and it's expected that it will take a year to complete. After this, I am hoping to apply to Hong Kong University and undertake a two-year, research-based MPhil in Political Science there. My reason for the two Master's degrees is mainly my areas of interest. I am interested in aspects of Australasian and East Asian politics for further study and they can't be amalgamated into one research endeavour - the schools I have picked best suits my focus. </p>

<p>My long-term goal is getting into a PhD programme in the US. I realise that it's extremely early days, but I am considering the usual - Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Michigan, Chicago, et al. </p>

<p>I was wondering firstly whether realistically, I have enough opportunities between now and the completion of the two Master's degrees to compensate for my GPA - which I know is definitely below-average for the general quality of applications that these schools will be getting. So far, I have two internships - one at our equivalent of Congress, and another at a national political thinktank. A research paper that I wrote this year might be published in an academic journal, and I have a second paper that I'd like to submit (with no guarantee of publication, obviously). I may also be a Teaching Assistant next year. </p>

<p>Is there anything else that might help my chances? What kind of GRE scores should I be aiming for? (I haven't turned my attention to Letters of Recommendation and a Statement of Purpose yet.) I'm also wondering whether the two Master's degrees could be interpreted as degree-collecting.</p>

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<p>If you do what you are planning, your undergraduate GPA (and your GREs, too, for that matter) should not be very important. You should be aiming to have the best-quality theses you can possibly produce, and to cultivate close relationships with faculty with US contacts who will point you in the right direction and support your applications enthusiastically.</p>

<p>I don’t know what minimum GREs you really need. It probably depends somewhat on the specific program and how you present yourself. Some programs are much mathier than others, and tend to have students with high (>740) math GREs, but if your proposed research is not math-centric you shouldn’t have to be that high (or you should be applying to different programs). The math curve is very steep – 30% of test-takers score 700 or higher. You have to go down to 530 for that percentile on the verbal scale. Your verbal GRE should be totally irrelevant based on the quality of your written work, but some desirable programs seem to have a formal or informal 600 cut-off.</p>