Profile Evaluation - Recommendations?

[Richelieu]

Type of Institution: In Turkey, we can say the best of the country

Undergrad: English Language Teaching (Still got + 7 Poli-Sci courses though) and American Studies Minor with honors
GPA: 3.39 

Grad: In UK- One of the best in Diplomacy  - Global Diplomacy MA

GPA: Still Waiting
Research experience: I have got 1 book review and my undergrad thesis on Political Science published in a journal

Teaching Experience:  I have taught English and Social Sciences in High Schools
LoRs: From PoliSci professors, hoping that they will be strong
Exchange: participated in an exchange program at a well know European University where I was a RA in Social Sciences Institute
Subfield: IR and Diplomacy
ITELS: 7.5

GRE: Haven't taken yet
 

I have contacted some of the professors I would like to work with, they have approached me really positively and found my research very interesting. Still though, My Undergrad GPA and the fact that my undergrad is from a different department concern me a lot. I am thinking of applying to Northwestern, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola and UI Urbana Champaign.

 

Thanks and good luck to everyone.

Edited August 9, 2019 by kemalgider

[uncle_socks]

This probably isn't the most helpful thing, but it seems really weird to apply to those four schools. UI-Chicago and Loyola are among the worst-ranked PhD programs in the US, while Northwestern is very good (I think they admit less than 20%) and Michigan was perhaps the most selective school last year (they admitted something like 4% of applicants, although that was an anomaly). 

It'll be fine that your undergrad is in English lang teaching (though the total GPA could maybe hurt you), because your grad degree is relevant. For top schools, they won't care about your teaching experience. It's hard to judge how competitive you'd be without your grad GPA and GRE scores, and I doubt that anyone can really give you a good answer without those. 

[Richelieu]

@BunniesInSpace The thing is I am currently on the process of moving to Chicago and that is why I wanted to apply to colleges around there. I am aware of the low GPA of my undergrad studies but fingers crossed.

Thank you for the answer.