IR - Average student, not much experience, what are my ballparks/reaches?

[cmaddis]

Hey everyone, I've lurked around here before but have never made an official post. I received a B.A. in History from CUNY-Hunter last May and am now looking to go to grad school. I don't have very much work experience and was an average student (my cummulative puts me at around a 3.2-3.3GPA). I feel like I'm getting carried away looking up amazing programs such as SAIS, but feel like I need to be dragged down back to reality. How competetive are these schools, and what would my ballpark be? I don't want to spend a ton of $ for a mediocre program, so I'm looking for good programs within my reach.

I'm also open to programs in the EU as I am an EU citizen.

Any suggestions will be muchly appreciated.

Thank you everyone!

Also, I'm in NYC and would prefer not to end up in the boonies.

Edited April 22, 2011 by cmaddis

[flyers29]

Probably should ask in the Gov't Affairs forum.

[Zahar Berkut]

Probably should ask in the Gov't Affairs forum.

Agreed-- there's an important distinction in U.S. grad programs between IR as a subfield of political science and professional programs in international affairs. SAIS is the latter. That said, you should look through the APSIA member schools to get a better idea of your range of your options.