Where to go?

[tpat]

This is my first post on the forum, and I'm hoping that I could get some guidance about where I should set my expectations for graduate school applications.

I currently attend a major public university in Texas, majoring in public relations. I am very involved on campus, and currently serve as an officer in student government. My cumulative GPA is a 3.3 and my major GPA is 3.6, but both of these are likely to rise a bit more before I begin sending out applications. I want to get an MPP or MPAff, but I'm afraid of being unrealistic throughout the application process.

While I have yet to take the GRE, I am familiar with the format, and I am confident that my verbal score will be much higher than my quantitative score. My first concern is that a disparity showing greater proficiency or aptitude in one area will keep me from being accepted at a top tier program. I am also concerned about my grades keeping me out as well. I'm not at all dissatisfied with them, but I realize they are average. I think that my resume is strong, I just don't know how much importance this has in an application. For the longest time, I thought law school was the way to go, but eventually realized that my heart wasn't in practicing law. Because I was in law school mode for the longest time, I think I've built this perception that you have to live and die by your test score, while everything else is secondary. I am still very new to this process, so any guidance here is welcome as well.

I would love to attend LBJ, Georgetown, American, Washington, Minnesota (with HKS, UMich and Wisconsin being dream schools of course), but I just don't know what qualifications I need for my application to these programs to be seriously considered.

I have found some great information already in the forum, but if there's a particular topic I've seemed to have overlooked, feel free to point me in the right direction. Thank you all so much for your help!