Which schools should I think about applying to?

[JPhoenix]

Hi, I am entering my junior year in college and I am a political science major. I plan on going to graduate school for political science after I am done with my bachelor's degree. I have been looking at the big ten schools mostly in which Wisconsin and Michigan have appealed to me so far. However, I know that these schools are not easy to get into. So far, my GPA is a 3.9, part of 4-5 student organizations, doing some research with a professor, and had a mentoring job last year.

So my question is what schools that are good for political science should I apply to that can be easy or easier to be accepted to in case I get rejected by schools at the top of my list? Thanks.

[JPhoenix]

Just to be clear I am looking for schools in the midwest.

[plisar]

Why are you only looking for schools in the midwest? What are your research interests? What type of methodology do you wish to learn and employ? Going to schools based on geographical region preference is typically a terrible idea.

[JPhoenix]

Because there are many good schools in the midwest. Political science is strong in the midwest and maybe I prefer to stay in the region for grad school. Geography playing a role in graduate education is not bad. Many students factor that in.

[polisciphd]

If you can be more specific about your interests maybe we can try to help. What field are you interested in? What kind of research methods are you interested in studying? And even more helpful, are there any specific faculty that you admire, have similar interests with (this is the best gauge of where you should go to school)?

[polisciphd]

Oh, and if you are dead set on staying in the midwest, just apply to all of them (unless you can absolutely eliminate them based on interests) and let the chips fall where they may...

[JPhoenix]

Well Im wanting to go into American politics. As far as specific research I am unsure of that. I do not know any famour or popular political science professors especially in american poltics study so any names would help.

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Strong/decent American politics schools in the Midwest:

Michigan (UMich)

Wisconsin

Ohio State (OSU)

Michigan State (MSU)

Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL)

Penn State, Minnesota and Indiana have been successful in the past as well. I'd be sure to bounce application-ideas off of the professor you're doing research with. You're also probably going to want to narrow your research interests within the American subfield for the purposes of applying to graduate school.

[polisciphd]

Add Illinois and Northwestern to that list and I think that you are right.

To the OP, this is where you get to show your first bit of competency as a researcher. You need to take your list of schools and go to each of their dept. websites and go through and look at the interests of each of their american faculty. If you can find more than one person in any dept. that is doing the type of research you would be interested in doing, then apply there. If it is just one person, then consider that people do leave and ask yourself if that person did leave, would you still be happy there?

[RiverRunner]

I agree with Tidefan on this one. Checking out faculty you might like to work with, contacting them about the specifics of their research, and thinking deeply about your stated area of interest in an effort to narrow down the types of questions you might be interested in asking are very important first steps in deciding what kind of program your interested in and where to apply. The midwest has great schools. But so does the rest of the country. Think again about limiting yourself by geography, unless you are absolutely place bound. This was the best piece of advice I received while moving through the application process. Think broadly.

[StudentForever]

Tidefan is right on the money. Specifically for American, you need to look at the division of faculty between institutions and behavior. Schools (both professors and classes offered) tend to focus more on one than the other.