Advice for next year

[Leon Lewis]

I woul like some advice about where I should apply to for next year. A little bit about my self. I from Washington State, I have a B.A in Political Science, undergrad GPA was 3.0, got a B in every Poli Sci class I ever took, except one, I also minored in Japanese. I know I am not going to get into any ivy league, top tier, or even mid tier schools, but I would like to think there is a program or two out there for me. My Interest in getting a Phd mainly revolve around teaching, particularly at community colleges and smaller universities. Does anyone have any advice for me? Schools I should look at?

Thank you

[somanytictoc]

I will say this. When I was considering grad school, I read all sorts of books, articles, blogs, personal interviews, forums, etc. about getting your PhD. Nearly every one of them said the same thing: If you can't get into a top 25 school, don't apply to grad school. I personally believe there's a place for mid-tier and lower-tier programs, but the job prospects are so slim that the cost (financially and time-wise) are a terrible trade-off for the benefits that you receive from earning your PhD.

Have you taken the GRE, or at least taken a practice GRE to see what your scores might be? My profile is pretty lackluster for ANY program, but I scored extremely well on the GRE which made me competitive at a couple of mid-tier schools. I would suggest taking a practice GRE test cold, with no preparation, to see how you might stack up. If your practice test scores are below 150 on either subtest, I might take that as a sign that graduate school isn't your best option in life. (Don't take this as gospel. I'm only proposing those scores as a cutoff because your GPA is pretty much already at the cutoff for any reputable program.)

[IRToni]

I second what the first responder said. Also: have you thought about doing a M.A. first? With a M.A. you can adjunct at community college, most of them are easier to get into and if you do really well there, your chances of getting into a mid-tier PhD are much higher. Do you have a research topic in mind? If not, it might be really hard for you to finish your PhD, assuming you get in. A dissertation usually requires 3 years or more of research, writing etc. I believe you really need passion for a topic in order to do that kind of work. Getting a MA first and then seeing what's what might be better for you. That said, I'm not sure how big your chances of getting into a decent M.A. are.

Why do you want to teach Political Science?