Does not having RA-ship significantly hurt my chance of PhD programs?

[elainez]

Sorry for the title! I actually have several questions regarding PhD applications.

I'm a rising fourth-year undergraduate student currently attending one of the top public universities in the US. I'm an international student, and I'm planning to apply for PhD programs in the US, with the CP subfield. As I didn't decide to apply until my third year, I don't have RA experience in polisci... My research experience mainly consists of my coursework (research papers for classes) and my honors thesis (which I will be doing in the next academic year). Currently, there is one RA opportunity available, and the professor's expertise aligns with my regional focus, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to pursue an RA position in the application cycle......

Also, as I am doing my school research, I realized that my topical interests are not popular within my regional focus. Most of the faculty focusing on my regional interest are not doing my topical interests. Usually I'm faced with a trade-off... In considering "fit" to a department, do regional or topical interests matter more?

Thanks to anyone replying to my questions!!!

Edited August 8 by elainez

[A Dalek]

N=1. In economics and psychology RAships and 'predocs' have become increasingly important for PhD admissions but that isn't the case for PoliSci. The field has a few faculty who use a lab model, but it isn't the norm and so I wouldn't place too much weight on RA experience. I think the honors thesis is plenty fine.

Regarding topic vs region. I know I differ from colleagues on this but I think it's bad to try to clone ourselves by only working with students interested in our specific niche. How does it advance science to keep doing the exact same thing as prior generations?

A faculty member should be able to give meaningful feedback on a dissertation, so some overlap is useful, but something has gone wrong if a dissertation is a marginal improvement of the advisor's existing work. Teach us something new! 

That said, I would give preference to a student who was interested in the same region as me vs. a shared topic due to logistics. I have had a few prospective students contact me over the years who were interested in my topic but wanted to apply it to a region where I had limited knowledge about the language or other region specific information. I would not have felt capable of advising them.