Am I competitive?

[TeacupKid]

I'm applying to masters' programs in Middle Eastern studies straight out of undergrad. I go to an Ivy League school and I'm going to graduate with at least a 3.2 GPA. I have some internship experience in my field and not much academic research experience, but I do have a lot of writing experience in my field. I have a strong SOP and good LOR (one of them is from one of the foremost professors in IR) and I am also fluent in Arabic with study abroad experience. My GRE scores are good (163V, 155Q, 5W) but I'm worried that my GPA will drag me down...what schools are considered 'safe', 'middle', and 'reach' for me?

[miffle]

I'm not familiar with Middle Eastern studies in particular, but I feel like a specific answer to your question of "safe", "middle", and "reach" schools would be hard to give.
Do these masters programs give any type of "admissions statistics & outcomes" information on their website? Just from a standpoint of stats (GPA/GRE), you can gauge how much you deviate from students who have historically been accepted and use that as a fast metric for how "feasible" it is for you to get in. 

Of course, the other pieces like SOP/LOR/experience are usually more important in terms of the final word on whether or not you get into a program. I would just be aware that many graduate programs still practice a "cut-off" of sorts in terms of GPA and GRE to quickly filter out students initially, which is why I would start with admissions statistics.

Hope that helps!

Edited February 23, 2019 by miffle
typo

[TiredOfApps]

I don't have a background in Middle Eastern studies - I have a coworker who does, including a masters. Based on our discussions of requirements for getting in to our respective programs,  what you described, your scores and GPA would not make you lack competativeness. I'm phrasing it oddly because grad school is a different ball game than undergrad, in my experience. They don't really just judge you on GPA and scores unless you are well below a cutoff (which doesn't seem relevant based on what you've given). That said, it's very hard to know exactly why programs choose candidates and what makes someone a good candidate. You mentioned you're still in undergrad - do you have an academic adviser or a professor in Middle Eastern studies that you could talk to about it? They are probably going to be the most helpful with sorting all of this out, and finding out more about programs. (You'll probably also need recommendations from them, anyway.) Most professors are glad to get students who are interested in their field and want their opinion!