Looking for Advice

[Benny]

Hello all! I'm an incoming senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with a double-major in political science and Spanish. I'm considering pursuing a PhD in political science, and am in the early stages of the application process for the Fall of 2012. I've already found loads of helpful tips and suggestions from lurking here at The Grad Cafe, and I thought I might apprise (I had to work in a GRE vocab word somewhere!) this community of advisers of my personal circumstances to get some specific advice.

GRE: 1580 (780V, 800Q)

G.P.A.: 3.859

Undergrad "Specialization": Political behavior

Currently I am looking at five institutions: Georgetown (reach), Minnesota-Twin Cities, Nebraska-Lincoln, Notre Dame, and the University of South Dakota (safety). I also took an LSAT last October, so I have a few law school application fee waivers to maximize my options.

Am I looking in the right direction? Should I be applying to other schools, and, if so, which ones? What else should I be doing to put myself on the road to success?

Thank you for all the help your posts in other threads have given me already, and I am looking forward to your advice!

Regards,

- Benny

[Strangefox]

You GRE and GPA are great, congrats!

So you are already on the road to success To keep yourself there you must choose the schools wisely. The tricky thing here is that no one but you can decide if a school is a good choice because it depends on your research interests. Tell me, how did you choose these five schools? Did you choose them because they offer the closest fit with your academic interests and because you contacted profs there and found out that there are profs who could become your advisors? If there is no fit or no profs to work with you - then you should look into different schools.

Also, you should write a great statement of purpose (SOP) and choose a good writing sample (WS). And find profs to write letters of reference for you.