PhD Profile Evaluation. Looking for guidance!

[thydumplings]

Hello everyone!

I just received the whole of my GRE scores. While I'm really proud of my verbal score, I'm a bit meh about my quantitative scores and I'm really wondering what steps I should take to get my application in the bast shape possible. I would really appreciate some advice on what I should do next to work on my application, or to improve my profile.

 

For your convenience I listed my questions below:

1) What kind of schools should I think about applying with my profile, as is? I'm hoping to apply to top 20-30 graduate programmes, is this a realistic goal?

2) How important are quantitative scores in applying for Political Science programmes, and should I re-take the GRE to improve my quant. scores?

 

Undergraduate institution: Top 3 institution in Canada (ranked top 30 within US News Rankings)

Major: International Relations

Undergrad cGPA: 3.5/4.0 (for what it's worth, equivalent to high distinction or magna cum laude)

Graduate institution: LSE, Department of Government

Graduate GPA: Graduated with Merit (using the conversion scale provided by Fulbright it looks like I have 3.45/4.0 GPA)

GRE: 166 Verbal, 158 Quant, 4.5 AWA

Letters of Recommendation: Have not yet contacted, but I will soon! I'm planning to request one from my undergraduate professor, and two from my professors in LSE

Research Experience: I had a great time working as an RA in a Human Geography lab. I'm not sure if it counts as research experience, but I did write a (shoddy, and I know exactly why it was shoddy and I would love to have another go at the same topic) graduate thesis and a handful of independent research papers during my Masters. My current work involves heavy data-basing and research of public policies in the Asia Pacific region.

Work Experience: I'm currently working in the international development sector in the Asia Pacific; about 2 years of work experience working at and with the UN. I understand this could work against my application.

Research Interests: I'm interested in the Asia Pacific region and post-civil war peace processes. I guess some key phrases to describe my research interests would be post-conflict peace building, impact of identities in civil wars, and the impact of civil wars in international relations and vice versa. I'm currently working to straighten out some solid ideas at the moment.

I'm mostly hoping to apply to Top 20-30 graduate programmes in the US (given my research interests UPenn is an absolute dream school for me), as well as a handful of schools in Canada. However, having seen my GRE scores and comparing them to application statistics, I'm wondering if I have a decent shot or if I'm just being unrealistic with my own expectations. Do I have a decent shot at my target schools? If not, what would be a more realistic aim? To improve my profile I'm really thinking about re-taking my GRE to improve my quant scores, but other than that I have very little wriggling room in improving my profile so I think it would be good to be strategic to know the odds.

 

Thank you so much in advance for your feedback! Any tips and advice would do wonders for me to really think about what I should do next to prep. my applications.

Edited August 21, 2017 by thydumplings
poor piece of writing needed editing.

[csantamir]

Why would international development count against your application? I'm currently in the same industry (in the same part of the world) and hope to make it an asset as international experience.

[deutsch1997bw]

I think you have a nice profile. As far as your GRE scores go, your verbal score is great, and your quantitative is probably sufficient. 

I do know that many US PhD programs note on their webpages that a 3.5 GPA is required for applicants that already possess a masters degree. Perhaps do a little research on that. 

I don't think it would hurt to retake the GRE, if only to try to get your quantitative score a bit higher. That's probably what I would do in your situation. 

[izmir]

32 minutes ago, deutsch1997bw said:

I think you have a nice profile. As far as your GRE scores go, your verbal score is great, and your quantitative is probably sufficient. 

I do know that many US PhD programs note on their webpages that a 3.5 GPA is required for applicants that already possess a masters degree. Perhaps do a little research on that. 

I don't think it would hurt to retake the GRE, if only to try to get your quantitative score a bit higher. That's probably what I would do in your situation. 

I agree with deutsch1997bw. I think you have a pretty good profile and if you think you can increase your quant score just by 2-3 points, I would say take the test again. Quant is very important for grad schools and a better score would definitely improve your chances but again 158 is a good score too. You shouldn't worry about it so much. 

[dagnabbit]

For what it's worth, my GRE was almost identical to yours (I got one more point on the verbal, but otherwise the same) and I got into two T20 programs. That said, I do wish I had done significantly better on it. If you think you could raise your quant score by 3+ points, I think it might be a good use of your time to retake it. Otherwise, that time might be better spent working on the rest of your materials. And, uh - definitely contact your desired letter-writers ASAP, if you haven't already.

Edited August 23, 2017 by dagnabbit
clarification

[thydumplings]

Thank you for your kind response! I think I'll definitely look into studying a bit more to get my quant scores up (although it's a busy period for my work so I'll really have to get at it). I've started reaching out to my preferred letter writers; hopefully I can muster up some excellent guidance and positive support from them as well.

On 2017. 8. 22. at 6:42 AM, csantamir said:

Why would international development count against your application? I'm currently in the same industry (in the same part of the world) and hope to make it an asset as international experience.

Personally speaking I completely agree; I was taking into account Drezner's opinions on selecting PhD candidates that are some years out of school. Though, nonetheless I agree that it could be something that we can definitely shape into a strong plus in our profile. For me working in the sector and in the field really opened my eyes on how I understood my research interest and it's more than half the reason why I want to go back to school - to know more about what I found to have very little understanding of despite my Masters training.