alrightok

where at?

A couple things I would look into in your situation. I know these are possible at my undergrad institution and might be possible at yours. 1) Re-take the intro poli sci course and have the new grade replace the old one. Sounds like this would make you eligible for honors 2) Like poster above mentioned, do a non-honors thesis. At my school this is basically the same as doing an honors thesis when your GPA is too low to get honors. As an aside, there are only a handful of institutions outside the US where you'd want to get your PhD. There's a reason half the students in US programs are international. If you're dead set on one of those institutions, the admissions website should make it pretty clear whether they take GRE scores

Say you've accepted an offer from good phd program A. Then after April 15, better phd program B lets you off the wait list. How do you handle it? Is it ethical? Will it make you an academic pariah? Will anyone at school A remember you three months from now? Discuss....

if you're under the impression that a phd and masters are equal, you might need to do a bit more research about what these programs actually entail

also let me offer up the idea that reiterating how hard of a decision it was can start to sound condescending more data for admissions committees -> less uncertainty in future admissions processes -> better outcomes for all

maybe apply again to schools outside the top 10?

I'd shoot a little higher than the places you mentioned...

Ask a professor who sat on a search committee recently if they even know where the candidate did their undergrad

Department A has a lot of faculty doing exciting research in areas you're interested in, but those professors' CVs generally show little evidence of co-authorship with students and say nothing about advising or dissertation committees. Department B has a smaller faculty in your subfield, their interests aren't perfectly aligned with your own, but they're putting out a lot of papers with grad students. How do you weight these factors? Throughout the application process, "best fit" was supposed to be rule number one. But I acknowledge that my interests are malleable and that a perfect fit doesn't mean much if your advisors don't give you the time of day.

How much should I take into account "celebrity" faculty at a department I'm considering? If they seem to be doing zero grad student co-authorship, minimal teaching, and little to no advising. Is there some other benefit to being in a department with them? Or should I just assess the department as if they're not there?

I'm 7-0 on admissions with little research experience, an unremarkable GPA, and excellent GRE scores. I can't say they're determinative but they certainly matter. What I will say is that your ability to boost your GREs may be limited, unless you're starting pretty low. After a couple months of pretty intensive studying I upped my scores by a total of about six points (V+Q combined). Your time may be better spent improving a writing sample. But you should probably go ask some professors who have sat on admissions committees.

Staring phd in political science this fall. As an undergrad, I've addressed every professor I've ever spoken with as "Dr." or "Professor". At my undergrad department (and it seems like most other places as well?) the grad students call the professors by their first names. When do you make this transition? Presumably not at visitation weekend...?