JayKay

Not all three have to be from academia! It is, however, strongly recommended that two ARE. In your case, I would get in contact with any undergrad/masters professors you had relationships with and meet up with them for coffee or an official in-office meeting to talk about you and your academic and career path. I recently received my undergraduate degree and cannot emphasize enough how helpful my professors were in helping me figure out my options. By seeking their help and advice (along with their understanding of my desired academic and career path), they all agreed without hesitation to write my letters. Although it has been a few years since you graduated (I assume), I can't imagine a professor refusing to meet with you. If you did not develop any relationships with professors during undergrad, I would suggest working under a professor or two doing research. The better the professor knows you, the better! Hope this helps! Julia

Hi all, Sorry this is long, but I would REALLY appreciate your feedback- I'm lost! I just received my BA at a top 10 public university in the US and was planning on applying to graduate school in Fall of 2016 for International Relations (security studies primarily). I've just moved back home and have compiled a spreadsheet of programs/schools I am interested in (GPA, GRE scores, rankings, experience etc) and have become increasingly disheartened at the amount of experience they require. Most of the programs I am applying to "strongly recommend" 2-3 years relevant work experience or international experience, and I'm curious as to how much weight this holds. I would prefer to go straight to grad school rather than waiting an additional year or two, but if the work experience is absolutely necessary, I feel I have no choice but to wait. What are your thoughts on this? Here are some of my stats/info if that gives more perspective on my current position: Age: 21 School: Top 10 public university in California; planning to take microeconomics, macroeconomics, statistics, and possibly calculus at a nearby CC Major: Political Science- International Relations, Minor- Russian GPA: Cumulative- 3.47 (freshman and beginning of sophomore year were rough, but I averaged a 3.6-4.0 for remainder of college. Averaged 3.8 Senior year) Languages: Native English speaker, Spanish- 4 years in high school, Russian- 3 years university (advanced) Internships/leadership experience: Campaign internship for a member of the US House of Representatives, marketing intern 1 year, University elections campaign manager 1 year, University elections head campaign manager 1 year. Internal Project Coordinator for the Internal Vice President of the university, Alumnae and Foundations Liason for established Sorority, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for established Sorority International experience: Studied abroad in Russia for 6 months, taught English there and volunteered at a rehabilitation clinic for children with social disorders. Backpacked Europe for 1 month in 2014, will be backpacking again for 6 weeks this September/October in Europe and Southeast Asia. Work experience: 1 year retail, 7-8 years babysitting/nanny, 1-2 years working at Child Care Centers, 2 years at a coffee shop (1 year as Supervisor- ranked top supervisor out of 20, if that matters). Honors: Accepted and initiated into national Political Science Honor Society as a founding member at my university, nominated and initiated into national Slavic Honor Society I plan on taking the GRE next year sometime between February and April and am hoping to score over 159 on Verbal and 158 on Quantitive (in a dream world I'd get over 162/161). I'm a nervous standardized test-taker so I've already begun studying. I am also planning on working for some non-profit (or anything international, really) when I return from Europe and Asia this October, so I would have about 1 year of relevant work experience by the time I apply, and 2 years by the time the program starts in 2017. What are your thoughts? Should I still apply Fall 2016, or focus on getting another year or two of work experience? Thanks so much, looking forward to hearing your feedback!