Hey guys, I'm a new member seeking a little reassurance and guidance. I hope I'm not annoying, and I hope I'm not like a typical new member.
Here's my situation. I've been accepted to, and funded at, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville for this fall, into the Political Science Ph.D. program.
I am coming from a History BA program at a small, public Liberal Arts program in Virginia. I've been out of school for a year, after a brief flirtation with law firm life left me - at risk of sounding hilariously cliche - craving intellectual challenge again.
Here's what I'm concerned about: my undergraduate program was not easy by a long shot. I had professors from public Ivy's who were entirely committed to being amazing, challenging professors. This wasn't a community college by any stretch. Even in this atmosphere, I had a 4.0 from fall 2010 until my graduation in 2013.
However, a few problems. First, my actual political science background is limited to basic American government classes, two political theory classes, and a single comparative politics course. I made A's in these classes, but I somehow still feel woefully unprepared.
My biggest concern is quantitative. I basically... Have little to no experience. A failed distance learning program in high school ruined my math confidence and I haven't truly tried since. I made a C in elementary statistics at college. However, I did make A's in both elementary Macro and Micro economics.
Strangely, my focus is the car industry. I've written extensively about the correlation of industry and geopolitical power. I'm just worried that my a) switching of fields and relatively lax quantitative training will torpedo me from the get go.
What I'm basically asking for here is advice on what I can do, on my own time this summer, to ensure I maintain the 3.5 gpa necessary to not flunk out of grad school... And honestly, some reassurance that I need to be here in the first place. I mean, they saw my transcript. They wouldn't have let me in if they were a super quantitative program, right?