PhD Political Science/Political Psychology Profile Evaluation please

[Jung666]

Hi everyone,

I am an International applicant (East Asia) applying for Political Science PhD programs with a particular interest in political psychology. Though I'm not aiming for the top-tier programs, I'm still concerned about my GRE score(AW specifically) and lack of experience in presentations and publications. Really appreciate it if someone can help me evaluate my profile and offer some advices, see if I have a shot getting admitted, thanks very much.

Undergrad: one of the top university in my country (East Asia)

Major: BA in Political Science and BS in Psychology

Undergrad GPA: 3.5/4.0 (last 60 3.95, PoliSci major 3.32, Psy major 3.85)

GREs: 161V, 165Q, 3.5 AW (didn't have time to prepare for AW, considering retaking it...?)

TOEFL: 113 (R30, L28, S26, W29)

Research Experience: 2 year research assistant (Assisted with project related to using functional magnetic resonance image to explore the brain mechanism working under voting behavior. Provided research support by using E-Prime to design experimental programs, preparing and conducting experiments, and analyzing data; performed data analysis by using SPM, Matlab.)

SOP: Still working on it

Writing Sample: a BA project thesis proposal (proposal only because never got the chance to actually finish it)

Publication: none

Presentations: none

Experiences: summer program related to political psychology

Programs I'm Looking At: NYU, Stony Brook, Ohio State, UCI, UCM, Minnesota

Field: Political Psychology, Political Behavior/Cognition, intergroup relations

 

Concerns: not sure if my GREs are high enough (AW specifically), also being too naive due to lack of experiences in participating in academic conferences. I'm applying for program related to political psychology only,  and above are the programs I'm really interested in. 

Really appreciated it for feedbacks and suggestions, thank you very much!

 

[correlatesoftheory]

I can't give expert opinion on whether or AWA score is 'high enough.'  If you were student from an English speaking country, I'd say it would kill your app, but because you're not, it probably won't have much impact, especially since you have a solid verbal score.  Also, I'm unsure about TOEFL scores, but you might want to compare what you got versus what other schools typically get for accepted students.

 

Just a suggestion: you might want to include UC Davis on your list as a potential school.  Amber Boydstun works explicitly in political psychology, and Robert Huckfeldt has done some work on network analysis and group-based experiments.  

[Determinedandnervous]

I would say with your credentials and your research experience, you're a strong candidate. Your AWA score is low, but probably not a dealbreaker given that English is not your first language.