politicsandreligion

Thank you for the input! Feeling a little better as a result

Hi all, First time poster. Thank you in advance to anyone who replies. I graduated this past May from a not well-known liberal arts college (regionally ranked but that's about it). However, I did well enough there to graduate with a 4.0 GPA majoring in Political Science and Finance (yes, I know this was a weird combination). Since then, I have been working in the financial district in New York for a big bank. After re-evaluating my professional goals and interests, I have decided to pursue a career in academia as a political science professor (hopefully). I took the GRE my senior year just in case I would ever need them for business school in the future (more time for studying in school than in my current position), but now will be using them to apply to Ph.D. programs (155 V, 163 Q, 5.5 AW). My research interests lie at the intersection of politics and religion, which to my understanding is not an extremely popular niche as compared to race or gender as a determinant instead. I am applying to the following schools: -Rutgers -Kent State -Penn State -University of Virginia -Northeastern -Notre Dame -Stony Brook I know these schools are not top 10 institutions for the field, but I believe they are appropriate for my admission profile (not attending a well-known undergrad institution, poor verbal score, no master's degree or publication, working in a different industry for a year). Uva and Notre Dame are definite reaches, as is Stony Brook. But Stony Brook very much interests me due to their political psychology concentration, where I could research political attitudes based on religious affiliation and devoutness at more of an individual level. At other schools, I would be under American Government Politics and research attitude formation and behavior at the group level. Do I have a chance at these schools or will I be laughed out of the room of an admission committee? I would like to know if I would be better served applying to master's programs instead and not having to wait another year before re-applying if I were to get rejected by every school on my list.