International relations schools/programs

[laviola]

Anyone here know what types of things (in particular) schools look if you're interested in their IR program? I'm not American and I'm probably not going for any American schools, but the Canadian ones I'm looking at are mostly poli sci programs in general, but there is one or two in particular I'd love to get into. One's at UWO and it's the perfect program for me, but without getting into the 'what are my chances?' stuff, I wonder if there are other ways to increase my chances of getting in? Besides academic experience, I have some other international experience but I'm not some crazy keener. Are there little ways, like maybe even contacting profs (although I dunno if this is more a PHD thing), that I can help myself get in or at least raise awareness to the school of my interest in them?