[Help me look for schools (Comparative, American or Public Policy)]

I think the first thing you need to do is narrow your focus. Based on your comments of specific subjects that you are interested in, it doesn't sound like American Politics is really your thing (unless you left out some key interests). It sounds like Comparative (or even Int'l Relations) is much more what you're looking for. Also, ther is the consideration of public policy vs. a political science focus, which at the Master's level should probably be motivated a lot by what you want to do professionally.

Secondly, the question of MA vs. PhD is a big one. Given the difference in time commitment, opportunity costs, etc. I don't think this is a decision to make lightly, and is one you should probably think more about. Are you thinking of a PhD because you want to do research and teach in the field? If so, are the places you are considering going to give you a strong chance of getting that type of job in the future (look at placement records of the schools)?

If you can provide more context and motivation for why you want to earn a graduate degree and what you hope to get from it, the schools that meet your goals will begin to narrow giving you a smaller realm from which to choose.

The way I'm thinking, yeah, I think American political science isn't going to be my thing - I'm leaning more towards comparative poli-sci.

As far as what I intend to do after graduation, I'm thinking I'd like to either be an analyst, say at a think tank, or go into academia, perhaps become a professor, teach and do research. I know that if I pursue the academia track, I'll definitely want the PhD, and I'm thinking the PhD would be useful if I wanted to become an analyst.

[Help me look for schools (Comparative, American or Public Policy)]

OK, I'm completely and utterly confused by the multitudes of schools before me, and I'm looking for a few "dream schools" that I should be applying for to get a masters, and maybe a PhD.

I'm currently an undergrad, going to Colorado State University and going for my second bachelor's degree in Poli Sci. I'm doing pretty well now, with a major GPA of 4.0, and roughly a 3.9 GPA from the two semesters since I returned to school for my second degree. My academic record from my first degree isn't as good, but has the virtue of having taken place about ten years ago. I mentioned it to a few professors, who agreed that it was a problem, but since my current performance is excellent, they believe it's an surmountable problem.

I've taken the GRE, and did pretty well - Verbal 640, Quantitative 790, Analytical 5.0 - solid scores IMHO.

I already know my "safety" to "midrange" schools - I'm looking at Colorado State again - I know the Poli Sci department there, and I think I'll be able to get in there easily. I'm also looking at CU in Boulder, DU in Denver, and the very last desperate resort would be University of Wyoming - they have a masters program in Poli. Sci.

As far as going for dream schools or high end schools, I'm pretty damned confused on how to select them. There's the US News rankings, but I've been warned not to go solely by those numbers. I've also tried looking at sites like http://academia.edu/ to try to find professors interested in the same things I'm interested in, but find that not every professor is networked that way. I'm also not sure how to find schools where I have a fighting chance at being accepted. Sure, I might want to shoot for the moon on one school in hopes of getting a dream school, but I also want to find schools where I have a competitive chance at acceptance.

I'm just confused and not sure where to look. I know I want to study American or Comparative political science, or maybe public policy. If I wanted to bring my interests into more detail, I'd say some topics that interest me would be authoritarianism, fascism, and democratization - I'd like to study what makes nations go back and forth between authoritarian regimes and democratic regimes. People talk about how Germany fell into fascism, but also interesting is that after WWII, the government that formed in what was then West Germany, and came to govern all of Germany after unification, was a success story in democracy. France has bounced back and forth between authoritarian and democratic regimes a few times as well. I suppose I'm interested in the mechanics.

Just I find that the process of finding schools where I could study such things is baffling. I could really use some help at least in getting a starting place on where to look.

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

True. When applying for undergrad, I paid all of the fees up front then submitted the apps, so on December 31 I had one application left (after submitting the others in October) to do for which I didn't want to write the essays. But since I had paid the $70, I wrote them and submitted. I ended up going there. This year, for my master's, I applied to 2 schools in October and was waitlisted, so I applied to the third on a whim and was accepted last-minute. I'll be starting this fall. So I think it's tough to judge which schools are worth the effort and which schools aren't, especially when "fit" is so important.

Question: Do you have to have a huge amount of undergrad research under your belt to have a chance at grad school? I've written plenty of papers for my poli-sci classes, and did a little research for them, but my current school's has a mostly classroom-based cirriculum, so I didn't anticipate having to write a dissertation for my second bachelors.

If all else fails, I can take an independent study next spring, see what I can do purely on my own, but I'm wondering if that's necessary to get me in the door in grad school.

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

Here's one more question. I can pick out a few "reach" schools easily enough, but I'm really having a hard time tracking down schools that would qualify as "match" schools or "safety" schools.

With my GPA, is there such a thing as a safety school? Where would I look to research which schools are competitive and which ones are easier to get into? It seems a lot of schools keep their admissions requirements close to their chests - they'll tell you they want really good GPAs and GRE scores, but won't tell you how good.

For that matter, I'm not entirely sure where I should be aiming at all. Do I have the slightest chance of getting in one of the US News top 20? Top 30? Where do I look to find schools. There's zillions of schools out there, I'm not sure which ones will accept me, and I have no idea how to suss out the ones that will and figure out which school's right for me.

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

Something else I think you should do that no one's mentioned so far is be extra active in contacting professors. Like UnlikelyGrad said, some schools only want to see your major GPA for the last two years, so your Computer Science degree won't matter at all. However, at least in my field, MOST schools want you to put down your cumulative GPA. And applications with low GPAs are often just thrown out without being reviewed. I think once you have narrowed down a few professors you would like to work with in grad school you should definitely try to set up a meeting with them. Don't mention the GPA thing right off the bat, but do try to work it in the conversation somehow. Tell them you have a 4.0 or close to a 4.0 major GPA and that you would hate to have your application ignored due to Computer Science grades from more than 10 years ago. I am sure they will understand and maybe will even flag your application to make sure it passes through the first round and at least gets reviewed.

Good point. I'll see to contacting faculty at the schools I'm targeting.

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

YES! I would mention that! Was there a large amount of years when you went for the 1st degree? Also, its not likes its a related degree so the weight on that may not be as much. You are not out of the running. You are just not a clear cut case either way. I would also try to get the verbal up a little...but that is minor.

Basically, I got my first bachelors back in the 90's when I was younger, and, well, less motivated and mature, so I had some horrible semesters.

The whole point of me going back and earning my second bachelors was to prove that I was indeed capable of doing it right. So far, I've been in for two semesters - Fall '09 GPA: 3.8, Spring '10 GPA: 4.0. I think I can make a persuasive case that yes, I have the necessary talents, and I've grown up to the point where I don't have any problem with doing the work and earning the grades.

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

Another update: My GRE scores are official now, Verbal: 640, Quantitative: 790, Analytical: 5.0.

Pretty decent scores there.

Oh, would I be able to mitigate my GPA by mentioning my current major GPA? (which is 4.0 - since I've gone back to school for the second bachelors, I've been acing my classes, so I've got an awesome major GPA.)

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

I think in your ROC I would explain it but not dedicate the ROC to it. Mention...explain...briefly...move on... I would talk more about why you want to get an advanced degree. I think that would be more compelling. Give examples. Show them you really want this. The GPA will hurt you a little. What school are you looking at?

Right now, I'm looking at schools in my area (Colorado), which means University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado State University (where I am now as an undergrad), and the University of Denver (though they're very expensive - I'd need significant financial assistance to afford to go to school there.) I'm also looking at schools on the east coast, such as George Washington University; and I'm also exploring the idea of getting my masters degree abroad, say in the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden or Austria, assuming I can get in a school over there with courses in English.

I'm also looking at the US News rankings, but I'm not entirely sure where I should be shooting. I'm not sure I can get into the really top-ranked schools - too competitive, and my ball-and-chain undergrad GPA will hurt me there, but should I look into 20th-to-30th ranked schools?

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

UPDATE! I just took the GRE: Verbal is 640, Quantitative is 790. It'll take a couple weeks to get the essay grades back, but I think I did pretty well.

Just looking for a little feedback on where I should be looking grad-school-wise. I'm thinking I'll probably specialize in American or comparative poli-sci, though I'm still deciding.

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I was under the impression that I could overcome the GPA problems, sounds like that impression is correct.

[Fear of Bombing the GRE]

Anybody here bomb the GRE and still get in to a top 10 school? More specifically, anybody get scores of less than 600Q and 700V and still make the cut at places like Harvard and MIT?

I attend one of those institutions now and the admissions rep I spoke to said that other parts of my application can make up for deficiencies in my score but I am left wondering how this works in the poli sci world.

I'm taking the test next week so please let me know what your experience has been.

Thanks

I feel your pain - I'll be taking the GRE sometime this summer while I figure out the whole application process. I'll definitely need to study up.

[Stressing out: Figuring out the grad-school application process. (Oh, and battling a low undergrad GPA.)]

I'm 36 years old, have a bachelors in Computer Science, but truthfully, I'm burned out on coding. I want to do something else, especially since I got bitten by the politics bug starting in 2006.

So I went back to school, went for a second bachelors, this time in Political Science. Right now, I'm absolutely rocking in my classes - I got straight As this spring, and I got 4 As and a B last fall. My new major GPA is 4.0, and I anticipate graduating this fall.

I'm enjoying myself, and decided I want to move on to grad school, tentatively planning to be in a masters program or PhD program in Poli. Sci. or a related field starting Fall 2011. I haven't taken the GRE yet, but plan to this summer. There is a problem, though - my GPA from back in the days of my first GPA is awful. And when I went to get my second degree, well, that cumulative GPA's stuck to me like a ball and chain.

Cumulative GPA is currently 2.4, and if I get another semester of straight As next fall, I can kick it up to a 2.5, but due to the law of averages, I mathematically can't kick it up further than that.

I'm hoping that getting a good GRE score, good letters of recommendation from my profs, and emphasizing my major GPA and the grades I got solely working on my second bachelors, and pointing out that all the really bad grades I received happened back in the 90's, when I was young and stupid, will overcome this.

Right now, I'm looking over options, trying to figure out what grad schools have good programs, and I'm totally confused. There's hundreds of schools out there, I'm not sure which ones have good programs, which ones I'd be likely to admit me, or how to go about planning for this. I'm pondering everything from trying to get into grad school here at Colorado State (where I'm currently working on my second bachelor's), going to other schools in the state, finding schools across the country, or trying for an international program in Europe.

Any advice would be very helpful right now.