santeria

Program: Ford Dorsey Program in International Policy Studies (IPS) Schools Applying To: Stanford (only US school I'm applying to) Interests: energy policy, climate change, natural resources, carbon pricing, East Asia, green technology, sustainability Undergrad Institution: Top 3 Canadian university Undergraduate GPA: 3.6/4.3 roughly (my institution uses percentages and conversion depends on the calculator) Undergraduate Majors: Asian Studies GRE: 164V, 154Q, 5.0 W Quantitative Courses: None, have worked for Statistics Canada as a social statistics analyst, however, and have a solid understanding of macroeconomics, statistics, and data analysis (incl. coding, which I've mentioned) Years of Work Experience: 3 years part-time, including 3 summers full-time Work Experience: two political internships (one for a Cabinet Minister, one for a political party), one full-time summer at Statistics Canada followed by half a year part-time work, work as a campaign manager on a local campaign, 2.5 years as a communications consultant in the natural resource space, including work for a non-profit in this field (have traveled to Asia for a research trip once, on invitation of a government) where I have developed an extensive portfolio of research/writing on energy and natural resource issues. My trip to Asia led to me being the sole author of a report on a technical energy policy topic published by that non-profit. I'm also extremely active as a political volunteer, holding several executive youth leadership positions (beyond the campus club level) in the parties I am involved with. Age: 21 Languages: fully fluent in Russian and French LOR: 2 professors: one political science/IR prof (who I had in first year for a year-long seminar course and am having as a prof again this year in IR; he says his letter is very strong), and another from a tenured professor in Asian Studies with whom I've taken several courses over the years. 1 employer: Executive Director of the non-profit I have been a researcher with for 2.5 years (reasonably well-known in his field and loves me to bits) Concerns: My institution grades harshly (Canadian schools, urgh) compared to the US and to be fair I also had a difficult 3rd year (my mother passed away) causing me to withdraw from a few courses and fail one (with 27%, which drags down my entire average). My cumulative average over my degree is 79%. If not not that one course, it would be 81%, which I have explained in my SOP, as well as the underlying causes. I am also nervous about my GRE quant - it's only in the 55th percentile. Does my verbal make up for it? Am I competitive?