Hi there! I’m looking to apply for Graduate school next year. I’m not sure how competitive it is so I wanted to see what you guys think about my chances I am really hoping to get into a top IR school.
My list: JHU SAIS, Georgetown SFS, American SIS, GWU, Tufts, UCSD, UM Ford School.
GPA: 3.78 from a Top 100 private university where I majored in Poli Sci
GRE Score: Q: 149 V: 159 A: still waiting to receive score
Work experience:
5 years of work experience with internships at international development non-profits and IR think tank. Spent 2 years in the Peace Corps.
International Experience:
Study abroad in China (semester), study abroad in the Philippines (semester), international internship in India, 2 years with Peace Corps in Indonesia
Language Experience:
Intermediate Mandarin Chinese (4 years of study in college)
Strong Working Proficiency in Indonesian
Quant. Background:
Originally majored in Finance before switching to Poli Sci thus I took Macro, Micro, Accounting 1 and a couple Finance classes. Hopefully this makes up for a low Quantitative GRE score!
Other:
Hundreds of hours of volunteer experience with a commitment to community service and social justice.
Wrote an Honors Senior Thesis during my undergraduate years. Well received paper by faculty of my department!
Strong Letters of Rec & Statement of Purpose
*** The main thing I am worried about in my application is my lower / below average GRE scores. I studied a lot for them, but just not the best test taker in the standardized ETS format.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. This is my first post here. I know these “what are my chances/am i competitive” threads can get annoying but I think it is useful to connect with others and hear peoples advice, since I am new to this.