Grad application & Scholarship

[Melisa-Istanbul]

Hello everyone!

Im a Senior - International Relations student applying for grad school either Canada or in States. My current GPA is 2.90. I wonder if I have a ny chance to be accepted to any university in those countries with scholarship. I really need your recommendations here. By the way my high school was French and my bacheler years have been in English and I did my exchanges in France and Canada.

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to hear from you

[Determinedandnervous]

I'm not sure how they grade in Turkey, but if 2.9/4.0 is anything like an American 2.9/4.0, then you may have a harder time getting into a PhD program in the U.S, since the competition is incredibly fierce and certain schools have a GPA cutoff. However, if you have some substantial research experience, good fit and good GRE scores, then that could offset the lower GPA.

Again, though, I'm not sure how the Turkish grading system works.

[GradSchoolTruther]

If you have a 2.90 GPA by American standards, you could get into a really low-tier master's program at some small college who could use the tuition money. Doubt you'd get a scholarship with that.

[doigetmyowntardis]

I had a GPA like this from an American school and am now set to graduate from a ~50 program later this academic year to head for a TT job. It is totally possible to get where you want to if you essentially had some early college foibles and you are prepared to work your ass off to move on up. 

Don't get me wrong now - this is not easy to do. You are going to have to demonstrate scholarly potential and an ability to commit to working hard. This can mean doing an internship or two, it definitely means doing well on the GRE and networking, and anything you can publish in any format will help. You may not be able to get in this year without that stuff unless the fit is insanely good, but you can take a couple of years to build up and compensate for the low GPA. And yes, an MA is one way of compensating, though of course you will take on debt. My advice on that front is that MAs not in Polisci directly might be a better investment and will still have the same impact on admissions (economics, MPP, specific regional studies, statistics). 

Your biggest task is showing good fit, so reach out to professors at places now and start getting them interested in you.

[cooperstreet]

Hello everyone!

Im a Senior - International Relations student applying for grad school either Canada or in States. My current GPA is 2.90. I wonder if I have a ny chance to be accepted to any university in those countries with scholarship. I really need your recommendations here. By the way my high school was French and my bacheler years have been in English and I did my exchanges in France and Canada.

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to hear from you

1) your gpa is low. if you want to go to a reputable phd program your best bet is to get a MA and excel.

2) i dont understand what "in those countries with scholarship" means in this case

3) you should do a MA in english to improve your English language skills.

[yaddayadda]

might be able to get into a lower-tier funded Canadian MA program but you'd probably need to have other things going for you. Entrance into the top programs (U of T, McGill, UBC) is unlikely