Intl. Affairs/GRE 298/Toefl 104 Please Evaluate!

[AkashC]

Hello!

I am in an urgent need to get my university list shortlisted.

Scores:

I have a GRE score of 298

Quant: 148 and Verbals: 150

AWA : 4

Toefl: 104

Academics:

10^th: First Class with Distinction

12^th (Pre University) : First Class

B.Com(Under-graduation): Final year First Class with Distinction.

M.Com I(PG): Passed

M.Com 2: Current year.

Applying for : Fall 2012.

Program Applying for: International affairs a.k.a Global affairs, international relations etc.

The list I am looking at, and need your suggestion on these.

1. Texas A&M

2. Duke University

3. University of Michigan

4. Syracuse University

5. Georgetown University

6. New york University

7. University of Southern California

8. Yale

9. George Town University

10. Washington state university

11. University of Maryland

575]

12.

Pennsylvania

state university

575]

13.

Rutgers, the state university of new jersey

575]

14.

University of texas at Austin

575]

15.

University

of Minnesota

575]

16.

University

of California at san diego

Please Please Please don’t insist on a specified format , I really have no time to get this thing done. I have basically just got another day to shorlist and finalize my universities. Because I have to have my application done by 25^th, since everyones told me and I have checked that most good colleges have a deadline of 7^th jan or 31^st December and I donot wish to miss out on any universities.

I understand my GRE is way too low for the course I am applying for, but am sure it isn’t that low that I have to apply to the list given to me by my counselor that has atleast 4 universities that are UNRANKED. My academics are good, with distinction all through the important academic juncture!

Please Help!

Thanks!

Akash.

[kitesintheskies]

Choose 2 from top five, 4 from next 10 and 4 from next 20. Total 10 applications and according to your profile, you will get within top 30.

[AkashC]

lol. Only if it were this simple! I am applying for the International affairs course and am not sure if this is how it works

[Helpplease123]

Can you find any international affairs rankings? You're GRE scores are pretty good but not amazing so I think kiteintheskies is right suggesting you pick the bulk of your schools in the 10-20 area, top 5 may be a slight stretch although don't know anything about your work experience of quality of your essays and both of those are going to be pretty important.

On a slightly different note, is an M.Comm a masters program? You're going to struggle to get a visa to do a masters in America if you've already done one abroad...

[AkashC]

M.Com is master of commerce that am currently pursuing from Mumbai university, il be done with it this year. Most Indian students from my field do their master for one year to qualify for a course in US, because our commerce undergraduate degree is of 3 years which falls shot of the US pre requisite for most masters courses. Which is 16 academic years. So to make up for that one year most student go for a masters program and when admitted abroad leave it mid way. In my case I decided to finish it off and then apply.

I couldnt find International affairs ranking, but I found rankings for Public affairs and Political science separately, I dont know what department IR belongs to, so am a little confused, I stayed up all night and have given 3 separate rankings for the entire list compiled. World ranking, Public affairs ranking, Political science ranking.

Syracuse is ranked 1 for public affairs and 51 for political science? :s

[AkashC]

Had my GRE been a tad lill better, I wouldnt have had to post for help

[AkashC]

1. Texas A&M>164>36>24

2. Duke University>22>10>9

3. University of Michigan>18>7>4

4. Tufts University>77

5. Unviversity of Denver>

6. Syracuse University>->1>51

7. New york University>44>10>17

8. University of Southern California>55>7>62

9. Boston University COLLEGE> 195>->62

10. UC, Irvine.>86

11. Georgia Institute of Technology>24>51

12. Yale>11>->5

13. John Hopkins University>14>32>39

14. George Town University>138>14>39

15. Washington state university>301 to 350>->86

16. American University>->14>72

17. University of Maryland>94> (collegepark25) [baltimore 57]>(cp28)

18. University of Kentucky>->32>78

19. Columbia>12>14

20. Princteon>5>4>1

21. Harvard>2>2>1

22. North Carolina State University>univ of north caro, chapel hill>43

23. Pennsylvania state university> 51>51>28

24. Rutgers, the state university of new jersey>81>32

25. George mason university>->45>51

26. University of texas at Austin> 29>14>21

27. University of Minnesota>42>14>17

28. University of California at san diego>33>->7

General World Ranks (unranked beyond 300)

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/top-400.html#score_OS%7Csort_ind%7Creverse_false

Public affairs ranking (unranked beyond 75)

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-public-affairs-schools/public-affairs-rankings

Political Science Ranking (unranked beyond 90)

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings

[Helpplease123]

1. Texas A&M>164>36>24

2. Duke University>22>10>9

3. University of Michigan>18>7>4

4. Tufts University>77

5. Unviversity of Denver>

7. New york University>44>10>17

8. University of Southern California>55>7>62

9. Boston University COLLEGE> 195>->62

10. UC, Irvine.>86

11. Georgia Institute of Technology>24>51

13. John Hopkins University>14>32>39

16. American University>->14>72

18. University of Kentucky>->32>78

22. North Carolina State University>univ of north caro, chapel hill>43

23. Pennsylvania state university> 51>51>28

24. Rutgers, the state university of new jersey>81>32

26. University of texas at Austin> 29>14>21

27. University of Minnesota>42>14>17

28. University of California at san diego>33>->7

[Helpplease123]

I made some obvious cuts (i.e. too competitive or ranked too low, you wont get a visa) but without any knowledge of the important parts of your application it's impossible to know where you'll get in

[Helpplease123]

spend some time going through the program sites and figure out which programs fit what you want as well, rather than just applying anywhere

[AkashC]

I am basically an accountancy and Economics major student. Ive done my undergrad and also doing my PG in commerce that concerns those two aswell!

I have gone through a lot of programs and it was NYU's MA in Global affairs that I felt strongly about and it was their core concentrations and curriculum that got me intrested. I could have easily gone for FINANCE, It isnt like I am not doing too good in my field that I decided to switch over, and it wasnt an abrupt decision either. I have done enough research on it and have enquired in detail by sending out mails to ELLIOTT, FLETCHER, Sam nunn etc.

I could put up my resume here here, I am pretty much done with my SOP and have tried to emphasize upon how and what got me intrested in IR and why IR and how I fared in school as a student. Have spoken about my academics and so on. ( I could post my SOP here, but It wont actually help anywhich way)

As for LOR's I have pretty good referee's, one of them was also an Ex member of the Academic council of Mumbai University. An extremely prestigious position and I have his LOR, as my ECO professor. The second referee is my prof of accountacy, and the last was my TAX project guide and TAX professor in my final year of undergrad. Ive got a good mix I'd like to believe. And yes, all of them are Ph.d holders. And of the 3, 2 of them have been a part of Mumbai university for over 30 years.

I have NO WORK EXPERIENCE! NO INTERNSHIPS, directly out of college, infact am still doing my PG while I am applying to universities. So yea, I dont know other than this what more would the admissions department look at.

[AkashC]

Could you please mail me the latest Rankings for International affairs please? I cant find any website that has them. It is either public affairs or political science, but nothing for IR in particular.

[Helpplease123]

Sorry I had a quick look online but couldn't see any International Relations rankings either...

I think the methods you're using to rank the schools are probably quite useful (overall ranking and then rankings for similar subjects) - just choose 10 from the list you've got, 2 dream ones, a couple of stretch schools and maybe 5 moderate but you'd still happily pay out for and then if you want, 1 that you're sure you'll be accepted at.

[Helpplease123]

If you haven't seen this before, it may help you make some decisions and with your applications..

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/599432-so-you-want-ma-ir.html

[AkashC]

Thanks for linking me to that thread. Theres a lot I got out from the link, that I quickly need to unlearn

But theres one positive for me, that is, I need to stick to a high general ranking than giving too much importance to departmental rankings.

[AkashC]

And I think I am more qualified for doing an IR than most out there, as most IR programs emphasize on the requisites of having good knowledge of subjects like ECONOMICS-Micro, MAcro and Global perspective of things. Also, While checking out the programs of all the universities listed above I found out that all these courses have RESEARCH METHODS as a subject which is already a part of my PG curriculum. Ofcourse, my aim is to work for ab organisation like the UN and I know I'll have to work extremely hard for it. And I also realise that as a fresher out of the MAIR program I wont land a personal 200 sq ft cabin inside the UN building.

[AkashC]

Whatever you learn irrespective of their relevance, it only adds up to your knowledge. I dont read much into such cynics who personally are jobless themselves or were busy fiddling with their 'nintendo wii' s and are too frustrated for not landing the 'right' job of their choice now.

[AkashC]

My undergrad score converted to American GPA: 76 percent converted to 'out of 4'.

Therefore,76/100 * 4= 3.04.

Gre Verbal = 148 (420 on old scale) , Quant= 150 (630 on old scale); AWA= 4.0.

TOEFL (since am from India)= 104.

What do you think about this list for MA IR:

Risky:

Tuftts University

University of california, san diego

Moderate:

New york University, SCPS.

University of Pittsburgh

Safe:

North carolina state university

Texas A&M

Georgia Institute of Technology (Ranked 24 Overall,the department ranking is bad though, but going by the post that you linked. I guess it should be on the list considering I fulfill all the majopr requirements and also because it is ranked high)

I have checked the requirement of each university and wherever my scores were lower than the median, I have categorised them as moderate. And whereever I qualified on a couple of requirements and fell marginally short on a couple, I have categorised them as Risky.

Edited December 20, 2011 by AkashC

[Helpplease123]

I'm not 100% sure on this but I think NYU should be in your risky category and get one more moderate, it's an incredibly popular school and very highly ranked - I don't know much about the other schools to advise you unfortunately, i'm an international student as well.