Difficult to get accepted?

[Bubal]

I'm an international student (from Spain) who is applying for Master in Public Policy, MPA and Urban and Regional Policy.

This is my overall profile:

GPA 2.98 (The bachelor degree is 5 years long here)

Got minimum require TOEFL score for all schools.

GRE: Q 560 V 330 AW 3.0 (I know, my verbal is reaally low ) I only had 1 chance and got 3 weeks of preparation.

My letters of recommendations are very strong.

I've been doing voluntary work for 4 year and been travelling a lot because of that, was having lots of responsability and its related to my field. I've been working since I'm 18.

I'm working very hard in my Personal Statement. (not finish yet).

Im applying to: Northeastern Univesity, NYU, University of Chicago, Loyola University-Chicago, American University, Georgetown and George Washington University.

Sincerely I think I have chances to get in 1 or 2 of the schools mentioned above (I have a plan B in case I don’t get accepted). I think I have more chances in Loyola and American University. But because my overall profiles is good, not my GRE and my GPA is normal, I prety sure What do you think?

Cheers

[Lauren35]

Well right now it might be difficult being an international student because I hear that schools have to pay more to support those students and right now that is very hard for them. But about your profile, I know all of those schools require a minimum of a 3.0 GPA (and some require a 3.3) just to apply, so I'm not sure how that will affect you, and honestly your GREs are not in the range for any of the schools you have listed. They require a combined score of at least 1100 or so and most people that apply and are accepted have over a 1300. I'd recommend applying to some other places that have lower admission standards just to be safe because I don't know how far your letters of recommendation and personal statement can carry you with those scores.

[modernity]

I'm an international student (from Spain) who is applying for Master in Public Policy, MPA and Urban and Regional Policy.

This is my overall profile:

GPA 2.98 (The bachelor degree is 5 years long here)

Got minimum require TOEFL score for all schools.

GRE: Q 560 V 330 AW 3.0 (I know, my verbal is reaally low ) I only had 1 chance and got 3 weeks of preparation.

My letters of recommendations are very strong.

I've been doing voluntary work for 4 year and been travelling a lot because of that, was having lots of responsability and its related to my field. I've been working since I'm 18.

I'm working very hard in my Personal Statement. (not finish yet).

Im applying to: Northeastern Univesity, NYU, University of Chicago, Loyola University-Chicago, American University, Georgetown and George Washington University.

Sincerely I think I have chances to get in 1 or 2 of the schools mentioned above (I have a plan B in case I don’t get accepted). I think I have more chances in Loyola and American University. But because my overall profiles is good, not my GRE and my GPA is normal, I prety sure What do you think?

Cheers

Things that might make you hopeful:

Your GPA may reflect differently because of where you came from - IE Spanish schools may not have problems with grade inflation, grade harder, etc. I'm not familiar with them, but someone may be able to comment on this.

They go easier on international students on the verbal section and the AW section of the GRE.

You're an international and some of these schools really want people from other countries to reflect the schools "diversity" - if that's the case with one of them you might have a little help that way.

If you provided a paper, or your SOP was really well written this might also help offset your low V/AW.

To worry about :

Some schools (I don't know about these specifically) have known or unknown GRE/GPA cutoffs - for the GRE these are usually somewhere between 1000-1200 cumulative which your 890 will fall below, and GPA is usually 3.0 (but some go as low -or lower- as 2.75 if the candidate can prove a substantial background otherwise).

Some of those schools are quite competitive.

Overall, I would just work very hard on your SOP, and hope that your experience and LORs pull through for you.

[necreation]

The above poster made some very good points for you to consider. A strong, focused, well thought out SOP and LORs will be a necessary component for your application.

I'd also add that you may be able to highlight the quality of your academics, where it is applicable. A lower than avg GPA can come as a result of various combination of course loads, classes, and circumstances. It could be two or three early semesters that were not quite as strong as others. That is something that will only be evident from a close examination of your transcripts. You mentioned work/travel since you were 18? Did this take away from your ability to study/do well in classes? Are there any classes/types of classes you did particulary well in that highlight your passion for pursuing this degree?

Having exposure to quantitative classes will also help. Did you take any challenging courses in math, economics, or statistics? If so, make sure you make this clear in your application whenever it is asked.

Finally, many schools have an optional essay for you to address concerns in you have in your application. I'd be sure to write an optional essay that thoroughly and thoughtfully describes your past academics and even possible reasons for not doing well on the GRE (ex. bad test taker). In that optional essay, you can also outline your action plan for success in their graduate program.

[Bubal]

Thanks for your time, I appreciated it .

@Lauren35

Well right now it might be difficult being an international student because I hear that schools have to pay more to support those students and right now that is very hard for them. But about your profile, I know all of those schools require a minimum of a 3.0 GPA (and some require a 3.3) just to apply, so I'm not sure how that will affect you, and honestly your GREs are not in the range for any of the schools you have listed. They require a combined score of at least 1100 or so and most people that apply and are accepted have over a 1300. I'd recommend applying to some other places that have lower admission standards just to be safe because I don't know how far your letters of recommendation and personal statement can carry you with those scores.

I didn’t know that international students are more "expensive", as you mentions. I'm applying to scholarships, but fortunately I don’t need to choose school depending on finance issues.

When you mention to applying other places, do you have some recommendations? My preferences is the northeast of the country, close to Chicago, nYC or DC, because I want to work afterwards.

@modernity

Things that might make you hopeful:

Your GPA may reflect differently because of where you came from - IE Spanish schools may not have problems with grade inflation, grade harder, etc. I'm not familiar with them, but someone may be able to comment on this.

They go easier on international students on the verbal section and the AW section of the GRE.

You're an international and some of these schools really want people from other countries to reflect the schools "diversity" - if that's the case with one of them you might have a little help that way.

If you provided a paper, or your SOP was really well written this might also help offset your low V/AW.

To worry about :

Some schools (I don't know about these specifically) have known or unknown GRE/GPA cutoffs - for the GRE these are usually somewhere between 1000-1200 cumulative which your 890 will fall below, and GPA is usually 3.0 (but some go as low -or lower- as 2.75 if the candidate can prove a substantial background otherwise).

Some of those schools are quite competitive.

Overall, I would just work very hard on your SOP, and hope that your experience and LORs pull through for you.

Your post is very helpful, . About the GPA, I had a very low average during the first 2 year, but my 3rd 4th and 5th year I studies hard I my result were high, cose I spend time in voluntary work but not as much as the first two years.

Good to know they go easier on international students on the verbal section and the AW section of the GRE.

I will do my best with the Personal Statement. My PS is about my gap year, I worked and travelled. I did it because I didn’t know what to do in my life, but after that experience I had the chance to knew myself better and realize that I wanted to study Political Science.

I don’t know if coming from Spain could be a advantage, because most international students (as far as i know) come from Asia and Middle-east. Speaking Spanish and introducing European viewpoints could enrich the course. Hopefully the graduate admission may think as I do... hehe.

@necreation

The above poster made some very good points for you to consider. A strong, focused, well thought out SOP and LORs will be a necessary component for your application.

I'd also add that you may be able to highlight the quality of your academics, where it is applicable. A lower than avg GPA can come as a result of various combination of course loads, classes, and circumstances. It could be two or three early semesters that were not quite as strong as others. That is something that will only be evident from a close examination of your transcripts. You mentioned work/travel since you were 18? Did this take away from your ability to study/do well in classes? Are there any classes/types of classes you did particularly well in that highlight your passion for pursuing this degree?

Having exposure to quantitative classes will also help. Did you take any challenging courses in math, economics, or statistics? If so, make sure you make this clear in your application whenever it is asked.

Finally, many schools have an optional essay for you to address concerns in you have in your application. I'd be sure to write an optional essay that thoroughly and thoughtfully describes your past academics and even possible reasons for not doing well on the GRE (ex. bad test taker). In that optional essay, you can also outline your action plan for success in their graduate program.

Very helpful post too.

It's ok if I highlight the quality of my academics in the Personal Statement? In the transcripts its pretty clear how I did improve after my second year. But maybe that is not enough... I only have a optional essay in one of the applications.

My work didn’t take me away from my ability to study, but the voluntary work yes. I participated and organized events, had to do campaigning, sometimes in dates of exam period... after second year I focus more in the studies leaving that dates only for study, because in my experience, I would say that It offered me a great chance but it affected my results. My Political Science degree does not have many economics modules/subjects, but I took the free choices ones in economics, in order to improve my knowledge. So I think that im strong in math and statistics.

Actually one of my LoRs is from one of this free choices modules, and he was very happy about my performance and he appreciated that I was the only student of political science in class. Nowadays he is the dean of the faculty, so I think that this LoR is important.

So...for finishing (sorry if the post is too long)

Mainly I have two options: 1. The one I plan from the beginning, apply to all prior deadlines so I can know if I'm in or nor by March or as very late April. In case I wasn’t accepted at any, I would have time to apply to some universities which deadlines are by May or June.

The Second option, is to apply to the late deadline, retake the GRE (I think I can improve my W and Q, but I wont have time to study vocabulary in order to improve the Verbal section, maybe I could do it better if I'm lucky with the exam and reach 400-450).

In this second case I would apply for other 2 o 3 more universities.