Feeling like I'm totally screwed for grad school IR

[Kevin1990]

I'm entering my senior year of college and I would like to apply to Grad school sometime in the future. Although, I'm very worried about my GPA. Esp. after my last semester of my junior year where my GPA from a high 3.3. to 3.1., due to a mixture of hard liberal arts classes, stress, and health problems. This semester was also my worse academic performance ever in college as I had typically been able to score between a 3.2.-3.5 GPA for a typical semester GPA regardless of the circumstances.

However, in addition to what had been my cumulative GPA of around 3.3. I have a very stellar record otherwise. I have tons of research experience; I’m currently doing an internship at a well-known and established think tank, and perhaps another one or two for the fall or spring semesters or even both. Also, I’ve studied abroad in the UK at the University of London where I received good marks. Furthermore, I’m also a key founder and secretary within two international politics organizations within my school as well as percipient in a couple of others. I also have a couple of languages under my belt also, but little quanatiative background.

I’m also planning on perhaps taking a semester abroad in the spring. Also I’m seriously considering doing a summer language program at Middlebury college or the Indiana in either Chinese or Arabic.

I will also be able to get solid rec’s from my professors (a couple of whom are very well known in their fields). Furthermore, I should be able to write a good statement of purpose too. I’m really concerned about the GRE also, esp. the math portion since I’m terrible at the subject.

Despite my positives though I’m still really worried about my academic record overall and I feel like I’m in deep trouble in terms of applying to grad schools. In which the programs that I want to apply to are in the International security field. To schools like MIT, SAIS, Georgetown, University of Ohio, Kansas State and a couple of others I can’t think of at the moment. ‘m also considering applying to a few programs abroad in the UK, Canada, and maybe Israel in which the min GPA requirements are pretty stringent for American students. In terms of these specific programs I’m very interested in applying to do war studies at KCL or comptempary history/politics at the Un.i of Nottingham.

Therefore, I’m planning on extending my undergrad y a semester and I’m planning for the upcoming Fall one to be a GPA boosting time. As I’m taking classes within my field that I really like, professors that I know, as well as a couple of easy it classes for the sake of getting a good grade in them. I’m planning the same for the spring semester too.

However, am I really uncompetitive for any top tier program in International security at the moment? Am I in as much trouble for getting into the grad school as I’ve been reading/comparing? I’ve had some people tell me I’m really well off and in good shape going forward, wile some have told me I’m totally screwed. So idk what to think,

Thanks in advance for any insight that I get into my current situation

[puddle]

As unsatisfying as this may be to hear: you cannot know your chances of being accepted into graduate school until you actually go through the process of applying. As long as you meet the minimum requirements for these programmes (i.e. GPA & GRE cut-offs) and submit all necessary materials, you will be considered by the admissions committee. After that the dominant force driving the line between acceptance and rejection seems to be some combination of "fit" (a concept that is rather difficult to define and even more difficult to predict/prepare for) and blind luck.

Some suggestions:

- stop panicking

- play up your strengths in your CV - languages, research experience and other preparation

- focus on what you want to do/how the school will help you/ how you are going to achieve your goals/ how you are the best person to answer your research question in your SoP

- do not get bogged down in explaining "why" you have not achieved perfection in the past (after all, no applicant is perfect)

- stop panicking

[Zahar Berkut]

FleetFoxes is right. I'll add that a very strong GRE score can help offset a weak GPA, but beyond that you really need to focus on identifying which schools are the right fit for your research interest. When the time comes, apply to a broad range of schools and see how you do. Worst case scenario, you can take the added information about your candidacy and use the time afterward to address weaknesses in your application.

I would also encourage you to think very strongly about your reasons for pursuing a PhD. Do you want to be a professor? What are your research interests? Are you willing to commit 5 or more years to a minimum-wage "job" to enter an extremely cut-throat job market? If you can answer those positively, great-- but I hope you've gone through that exercise.

I ask because of two things you highlighted above. First, think tank experience is far more valuable for a professional degree master's than it is for a PhD, since very little of the research going on in think tanks carries much weight with academics. Do you have experience as a research assistant for a professor? Are you writing a thesis? Those are far more valuable. Second, the "Chinese or Arabic" comment makes me think you're still unsure about what you'll study. You don't need to have a dissertation topic ready when you apply, but you should be able to point to some fairly concrete research areas or regions of interest.

[adaptations]

Kevin 1990 - Here are a couple additional thoughts. As was previously noted, the only way you will know whether you are competitive or not is to apply and see what happens. Your statistics are lower than average, but there are always some people who get in to top programs with numbers like yours. That said, I would also have a contingency plan in case you are not accepted.

One point of confusion I had was whether you are hoping to go straight into a PhD program. I am assuming this to be the case, but when you say "program in international security" it could be an MA or MPP as well. Sticking with the assumption that you are shooting for a PhD program, a good contingency plan would be to add a few applications to masters programs that are known to be strong feeder programs to PhDs. Of course this can be a financial burden, but if doing an MA (and excelling in it) allows you to get into a top PhD program the investment may be worth it. As an example, I originally applied to PhD programs but did not receive funding and instead did a partially funded MA at U. of Chicago's CIR. The experience, connections, and credentials I gained while doing my MA helped me have a plethora of options when I reapplied. So my suggestion would be to apply to a handful of PhD programs and see what happens, but also apply to a few masters programs which will give you a strong backup option.

On a side note, and just to voice a personal preference, I think it is a smart choice to take some time away from academia and work in the professional world before starting a PhD program, so you may want to consider that as another alternative.

Best of luck,

[Kevin1990]

FleetFoxes is right. I'll add that a very strong GRE score can help offset a weak GPA, but beyond that you really need to focus on identifying which schools are the right fit for your research interest. When the time comes, apply to a broad range of schools and see how you do. Worst case scenario, you can take the added information about your candidacy and use the time afterward to address weaknesses in your application.

I would also encourage you to think very strongly about your reasons for pursuing a PhD. Do you want to be a professor? What are your research interests? Are you willing to commit 5 or more years to a minimum-wage "job" to enter an extremely cut-throat job market? If you can answer those positively, great-- but I hope you've gone through that exercise.

I ask because of two things you highlighted above. First, think tank experience is far more valuable for a professional degree master's than it is for a PhD, since very little of the research going on in think tanks carries much weight with academics. Do you have experience as a research assistant for a professor? Are you writing a thesis? Those are far more valuable. Second, the "Chinese or Arabic" comment makes me think you're still unsure about what you'll study. You don't need to have a dissertation topic ready when you apply, but you should be able to point to some fairly concrete research areas or regions of interest.

I should have added earlier that I am still an undergrad and that I hope to be applying for MA/MS programs soon. However, I do hope to go onto a PhD program someday but that's still pretty far off.

I've worked on looking up schools that fit my general field of interest like SAIS, MIT, KCL etc.

Also you are rit that I am still very much a generalist in ways and haven't nailed down an area of regional interest, despite the fact that since entering college I've been into the security issues affecting the Middle East and North Africa. But this is beginning to change some, as I've become also intrigued by the rise of China and the streategic/military implications of this occurence.

In terms of my time working with the think tank, I've actually seen little difference in terms of the material discussed in comparision to academia in my experenice.I should probably also add that many of the researchers I have done work for at the think tank I'm currently at are ether former or current academics or have been trained as such. Ex. Many of them concurrently research at places like GWU, Columbia, LSE, or McGill while doing think tank work. To answer your question though I would like to work in a think tank someday, even though I very much like academia. The pay and benefits is often too low to live on.

But in terms of my research experenice for both the think tank and at college I've managed to get a heavy does of both. As at my university I've done alot of resaerch in my classes etc. And addtionally, I have to write a large thesis paper in seminar in order to complete my BA. My professors I've had over the years can also attest to my academic research/other abiltes as well.

Edited July 31, 2012 by Kevin1990