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Shadowscholar123

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  1. Hi guys, First of all, my apologies to you if you are getting annoyed seeing yet another "what are my chances" thread. Honestly, I'm the kind of guy who would rather do all his research on previous posts on this forum and elsewhere before even considering writing such a post; however, I think I have an interesting situation and have been struggling to get an appropriate answer ( I know, I know,, there is nothing called an "appropriate" answer.. but anything at this point would help!) about prospective admissions to top schools. I am thinking of applying to top Graduate schools in Political Science and International Relations in the US (Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Fletcher, etc) and the UK (Oxford, LSE, Cambridge, etc.) to start studies for the 2016 Fall session. Ideally, I would want to apply for a strong Masters degree (MPhil/MIA/ Msc/MALD) and then pursue a PhD from a top school, but I could also apply directly for a PhD (just not sure of chances and funding). The following are my stats: Undergraduate GPA: 3.01/4.00 majoring in Political Science and Economics Undergraduate institution: University of Toronto Note: The combined GPA for my courses purely in Political Science were a 3.7. Its mostly because of two Ds in two Economics courses (one taken when I was working full time in the summer) along with some low 1st year courses that my overall GPA went down. Also, the grades for my higher level courses were mostly As (all in Political Science) and two B+ in Econ courses. Offered the opportunity to write a Bachelors level thesis paper and received an A. Masters GPA: 3.99/4.00 (Top of Graduating Class) in Political Science with a strong emphasis on International Relations Graduate Institution: University of Waterloo GRE: Bombed the first time I gave it (scores are much horrible than you can anticipate! ) but will give it again a couple of times for the coming year as I have quite some time before applying. Work Experience (all Full Time): 1. Interned for half a year at the Canadian Consulate in Shanghai as a Junior Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Service Officer, 2. Worked for the Government of Alberta as an International Relations Officer (1 year), Policy Analyst for the Immigration Policy Department and the Department of Energy (2 years) 3. Also worked as a TA in my Masters program, and an RA for the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Undergraduate Extracurricular Record (assuming its somewhat relevant): Won awards in over 6 Model UN competitions held in the US and Canada (including at Harvard). Also awarded the "Ontario Volunteer Service Award". Publications: Published a paper on Conflict Resolution in Africa for a Canadian think-tank and wrote newspaper articles on International Relations for a major newspaper in India Languages: Fluent in English, Hindi and two other South Asian languages; Conversational in Mandarin Chinese (Reading - basic) and French. I know that getting into the US will depend a lot on how well I do on the GREs, but I wanted to know what my chances of admission are in the UK for Oxford, LSE and Cambridge. I am very interested in the MPhil/PhD International Relations stream and wanted to know if my weak cumulative undergraduate GPA would destroy my chances of getting admission into a top ranked UK college accompanied with a strong scholarship. I researched the Clarendon Fund scholarship at Oxford and the eligibility criteria states that "an outstanding academic record at Master's level is necessary (noting that an outstanding Master’s degree can compensate for a moderate first degree performance)"; however, with the increasing competition for such MPhil/PhD spots ( including in the US), I am not sure how competitive my application would be given my weaker undergraduate GPA despite a strong performance in my Masters courses. Will any amount of work experience or publication suffice? If anyone could give me a hand with my situation, it would mean the world to me!
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