which schools should i apply to

[rileypep]

i want to get a M.A. in international relations and i was wondering what schools should i appy for that fit my application profile. I really want to get into columbia, johns hopkins, or gtown ssp. Are these schools too far of a reach?

applying for fall of 2010(still in undergrad right now)

undergrad: state school

major: criminal justice minor: anthropology

gpa: 3.72

gre 720 q 600v

3- months as a field organizer for a city council campaign in a big city

3- months volunteering in the obama campaign

4 months interning at a big city police department

well written sop

good LORs

Lots of extracurriculars including president for 2 different organizations, one being a honor society, and various other elected positions

150+ community service hours

fluent in japanese and been to japan 5 times, canada 1 time, and mexico twice

1 semester of research + senior thesis

[Stories]

Are

columbia, johns hopkins, or gtown ssp

a good fit with research interests? If not, you wouldn't get in with a 4.0 and 800V/800Q/6AQ GRE.

[liszt85]

Are a good fit with research interests? If not, you wouldn't get in with a 4.0 and 800V/800Q/6AQ GRE.

I doubt if this really holds for a MA. If you have a 4.0 and 800V/800Q/6AQ GRE and publications (not necessarily in the subfields of interest to the faculty), if you just demonstrate interest in what they do through your SOP (not necessarily through prior work but just by saying "I'm interested in what you do and would like to do that"), I'm sure you'll get in. Now the question is not if they will accept you, the question is if you think you are interested in the kind of research those departments do. If you are then your SOP will always talk about that and augmented by your good GPA and decent GRE scores, I think you might have a good shot.

[rileypep]

what schools would be considered as a saftey for me?