poliscistudent

I know. I'm asking about master's programs in that quote.

Thanks. Which schools offer MAs in poli sci? The graduate programs I've checked out so far only offer PhDs.

I would like to apply to top-tier schools to get my PhD, but I attend a tier-4 undergrad. I do have some research experience and an excellent GPA (and guaranteed good LORs), but my ECs aren't outstanding (I do have a few, though). How much will my undergraduate university affect me?

A= 4.0 A-= 3.667 B+= 3.333 B= 3.0 B-= 2.667 C+= 2.333 C= 2.0 C-= 1.667 D+= 1.333 D= 1.0 D-= 0.667 F= 0.0

My school doesn't really offer many decent graduate-level courses. Most of the graduate courses are really undergraduate-level courses that have an extra term paper. The only ones that aren't like this are the research courses. I do go to a 4th-tier school...are my prospects that bad? How significant is the fact that I attend a 4th-tier school?

Thanks. I do have fairly close relationships with a few faculty members right now - interestingly enough, I think getting good LORs will be the easiest part of my application. How much research should I be doing? Should all of it consist of data analysis? My senior year I'm strongly considering taking a graduate-level political science statistics course that deals with SPSS so that I can prepare better for a PhD. I've already taken a required course in political data analysis at the undergraduate level, but it seems to me that my life will be easier if I have the material drilled into my head before I enter a PhD program. Last question - I'm not 100% sure how graduate school admissions work. If I wanted to attend a school of high caliber such as UNC, would the bulk of my application consist of my SOP and LORs? I'm concerned that I have little on my resume to make me stand out to PhD programs.

I'm a political science major (as my uncreative username indicates) and about halfway finished with my undergraduate degree. I also am minoring in one of the humanities. I was wondering what I should do right now to make my application look more appealing to PhD programs (also in political science, probably American). Here's what I have so far that I feel is actually relevant (leaving out basic memberships of random student organizations): -4.0 GPA (overall and within major) -Research experience, but not published...just one project -President of a minor student org on campus -Model UN No WE or internships, though I think I will try for an internship my senior year. I also only have about 20 hours of volunteer work, if that, so how important is it to have done a lot of volunteer work during undergrad? I know I can get great LORs from prominent faculty, and I assume I'll do well on the GRE and write a decent SOP. I may or may not take a year (or two) off after I get my BA in order to get some money saved. What else should I be doing to enhance my resume? How lacking is the one I currently have? I'm aiming for good to great schools, even though my undergrad institution isn't.