Mr. Tibbs

I'll try to make this as brief as possible while still providing a lot of information: Who I am on paper: - BA and MBA from cheap state University in Florida. 2.9 UGPA, 3.2 MBA GPA - 3 Year Gap Between MBA and Law School (lived abroad for wife's med school) - JD from Top 25, but not Top 14, Law School. 3.4 GPA, Top 1/3 class, Climate/Environmental Journal - 3+ Year Gap Between JD (Graduated 2012) and being able to go back to school for a PhD (Fall 2015, playing stay-at-home dad to son born 2012 while wife completes residency) - Non-relevant work experience only (retail management) My Goal/Dream Job School: - To do research, publish, and TEACH. University of South Carolina, and if not feasible, any other university or college that will pay a solid middle-class wage and allow me to live in Columbia or the north-western part of South Carolina (Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson area). Too many years on the move and being a man without a home, too many years seeing parents and a very tight-knit extended family once a year or twice if I'm lucky. My Questions: - Where in the rankings, according to U.S. News, should I be shooting for a Poli Sci PhD? South Carolina is ranked 51st. - Would being accepted to and actually attending the very same university you'd like to ultimately work for be a bad idea or insanely stupid? - Would having both a law degree (from a great southern school) and a PhD make me significantly more attractive to prospective employers than my peers, or will the JD simply be a minor resume shine? - Just how badly is my awful UGPA going to hurt me? Will my later performance in any way make up for it? - I'm an excellent test taker. I was able to get into a law school I had no business getting into considering my 2.9 UGPA by scoring in the 99th percentile on the LSAT. This kind of performance on standardized tests is typical for me when I prepare thoroughly. Let's assume for argument's sake that I can at least score 700 and above on the GRE portions. Do GRE scores help compensate for poor UGPA in Political Science admissions? - How badly will two separate 3 year gaps and my age (mid 30s by 2015) hurt me? - On a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 = "Don't sweat it, you're golden" and 1 = "Hahaha, you might as well spend the application fees on buying lotto tickets" where would you rank my prospects for getting into a PhD program that will pave the way for my desired career destination? Thanks in advance for any answers, comments, advice, or ridicule. Questions welcome if I have failed to provide enough information. -Mr. Tibbs-