victorydance

I'll be 27.

This is extremely broad. You need to narrow down your interests before you set out on the task of finding political science programs to apply to.

A professor they mentioned in their SOP.

Take a year off after you finish your bachelors. Find out what you want out of your life and do some introspection/live your life. Don't rush into any more education on a whim.

Have you looked at universities in Europe? I was considering this line of study prior and European universities were a bit ahead of the curb in this regard. Also, there is also a more natural + social sciences stream you can go through, usually called "MSc/M.A. in Sustainable Development" than strictly management programs.

I don't have any anxiety.

I think you have a good application. Obviously a 3.0 isn't great but you have gone back and proven you can succeed in a graduate level setting despite Waterloo not having the most extensive reputation. There are a lot more important things than GPA. The publication doesn't really matter. Publishing something with a think tank is better than nothing, but it's not an academic publication. But you have RA and professional experience which is good. Just nail the GREs and apply broadly and you should be fine.

I didn't have any problems uploading mine. Perhaps a browser issue? Are you uploading a PDF file? It is the right size?

It's almost always better to go before hand and look at them in person. Craigslist and similar websites are usually the best. Just set up a few viewings before arriving and then a bunch more when you are there. Look at 2-4 places a day and decide then. For one, not seeing an apartment before signing a lease is not the best strategy. Second, it's pretty hard to get a good deal or even get apartments when you are in another city.

Have to agree with Cookie on this one.

Bingo. This person gets it. I also included in my cover letter a short bullet-point list of things they may consider including in the letter with each list tailed to the specific professor and relationship I had with him.

If you are attending a US school I find it incredibly hard to believe that the language barrier is that difficult to overcome.

Well I don't even have a phone so yeah, they better send some emails.

But he didn't ask for that advice and that is exactly my point.

"Even if no debt occurs, paying for an MFA out of pocket is almost-always an unwise use of funds unless one has a concrete position lined up afterwards. Even then, it's probably not a good idea." Looks pretty obvious to me.

I am looking bad? I'm not the one talking down on someone for making certain choices in their lives when they are looking for support. The guy just wanted support and then you got some freaking English Lit people come in here and basically tell him he's an idiot for doing what he is doing. $30K really isn't that much money. If someone had been working for 6 years that would mean $5K a year one would need to save, that is peanuts.

MFA's average cost is like 30K. Which isn't that much money considering the OP has been out of school for 6 years. Secondly, I find it kind of ironic that someone that is applying to Ph.D. programs in English Lit is being judgmental towards someone's choices considering that degree is probably one of the least convertible degrees you can do.

I am confused at why you can't apply to more than two programs?

Why do you assume that paying for education yourself = debt?

Ideally, you want a 3.5+ GPA and a 160/160+ GRE to make it that neither will get you cut automatically.

The course number that the host university gave the course.

This is not a homework forum.

You would suffer from what I call the double dagger. A low GPA and a low GRE score. Doubtful you even make it past the first lines of screening. It's possible to overcome one of the those deficiencies, unlikely with both.

I would never use a book review for a writing sample. A writing sample is more than just seeing your "writing ability." You want something that shows you can develop a hypothesis, a research design, conduct literature reviews, come up with a research topic, use qualitative or quantitative analysis, ect.

I am confused at what you guys mean as "narrow."