Swaggyst

@timhortonThanks for your advice. What do you think of my profile in general? Will I have a shot to top-15 programs?

Thanks for the reply! I did not realize that teaching experiences can bolster my application. I teach at that summer program simply for interests. Will grad school really take my teaching experience into consideration?

Thank you for the reply! After consulting with the registrar, I now realized that my school does have the setting of "Independent Research Seminar" which works exactly as what you described and if I can write some quality paper, I may be able to publish the outcome of the Independent Research Seminar at some major conferences (there are some precedences). Thank you again for mentioning this. Also, what do you think about my profile in general? Based on the information in the main thread, do I have a chance for a top 15 program?

Hi guys, I am currently a rising junior (international student) at a top 10 liberal arts college with major in political science and want to apply for a top 15 PHD program (Comparative, Middle East/Democratization) one year after graduation. I was wondering if somebody could help me evaluate my profile. Thanks! My school is very rigorous so I only got a GPA slightly over 3.8 (my freshman year's GPA is pretty low; 3.8 is at least a MCL in my home institution as it is renowned for its low GPA...). I got a pretty solid quant background (pursuing a double major/minor in Stats and will be applying for the ICPSR at UMich next summer). Strong language skills: I am a native Chinese speaker and can speak fluently English and French; also I recently started to study Arabic and expect to at least have a medium professional proficiency upon my graduation (also a really basic conversational knowledge of Spanish). Kinda strong LORs (my advisor is an expert in this field). Based on my peers' experiences and my practice tests, I am expecting a GRE score of 165+, 165+, 5. Tons of teaching experiences: design and teach two 8-day poli sci courses to local high school/first-year college students every summer. My biggest disadvantage is that I do not have any undergraduate research experience; thus, my thesis may be the only research that will be done by me before the application (although I think I can make it a great one). I am really freaking out after browsing this website...I honestly do not know how to find some quality research opportunities. My question here is that what is my chance to be admitted to a top 15 PHD program and how can I improve my profile (especially the undergraduate research part...I do not even know where to start)? Thank you so much!