Atican

^It depends how much professional experience you have and what your quantitative background is. If you have no quant background, your quant score needs to be higher.

You need to call each school and ask what they do with the GRE scores... my bet is that they just look at all of them and see how you did on the whole (whether you improved, etc.)

ynwa22

Atican and flyers29, thanks for the responses. In terms of my quant background, I attended NYU Stern as an undergrad and graduated cum laudi with a finance degree. I studied econ, valuations methods, financial theory, etc. I've been working for roughly 2.5 years for a large multinational financial data company as an investor relations consultant.

Do you think my professional experience and academic background make up for the below-average quant score, or should I just take it again in December?

Thanks!

DupontCircle

I was hoping someone could provide a comparison between Georgetown and Hopkins. Not which is better but their strengths and weaknesses and after reading this thread their strengths in terms of region AND focus of study.

Thanks

Yabanci

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping someone can give me some feedback on potential IR graduate programs. I graduated from a good undergrad school (top 30) in history and french. My overall GPA was a 3.1, while my major GPA was a 3.4. I did poorly my freshman year, but over my last 3 years my GPA was a 3.4 or so (if that helps any).

I have a lot of overseas experience. I've lived overseas for 12 years, including studying abroad my junior year. I've interned with the government agencies for two summers, doing research relating to international relations, and I should be getting good letters of recommendation from professors and supervisors.

I haven't taken the GRE yet, but I think I can get a 600 verbal and 700 math. I know I can't get into any top programs, but right now I'm looking at programs in Virginia, like George Mason. Outside of Virginia, I'm looking at Pittsburgh's program, which looks pretty good. Does anyone have any other recommendations for schools that I could look at? It's hard to find rankings for master's programs.

Also, I assume scholarships are pretty competitive. I'm just worried about potential costs of going to a program out of state. Any information anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

bigcountry83

Hi Yabanci,

My first question is why do you automatically assume that getting into a top school is impossible? You might think so because of your GPA, but admissions people consider the reputation of your undergrad school too. I mean let's face it, a 3.0 from Harvard has a bit more weight than a 3.0 from the average state school. And in IR, international experience counts for a lot. If you've spent all of that time abroad doing interesting productive relevant things than you'll be of great interest to IR programs in even the top schools. Should you have solid recommendations and are able to produce a fabulous statement of purpose I'd say you'd have a fair shot.

Personally, I'm almost done with my applications to George Washington University and American University for the International Development programs and George Mason is my back up. Now, I have 3.35 GPA from a rather reputable school in International Studies, great rec letters, I ended up with an A in my senior capstone project, I studied abroad in Moscow, and I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine for 2 years, which makes me competitive for sure. My GPA isn't remarkable, but it's pretty decent. The ID program requires development experience and foreign language proficiency, I have both. I do have some weaknesses though, I took the GRE a few weeks ago, it was a disaster, and I don't mean "I only got a 1200" disaster...a real disaster. I'm taking it again in 2 weeks, I'm positive that as long as I do a little better I'll have a fair shot. My friend's fiance got a GRE score in the 1000s and still made it into GW, we all served in the PC together. Let's say you do get that 1300 on the GRE, you'll have a very good chance at a top school like GW or American U. Frankly, I'm tired of reading blogs where people call a score of 1200 mediocre or poor, it might be for some programs and if you're right out of undergrad, but relevant professional experience and top notch writing in your purpose statement are key. Another weakness, I'm not sure if it's really a weakness, but I'm always turning things around in my head about this, is that my first half of my degree is from a community college (a good one though). I'm not sure how that will look to a top school, although I ended up with a 3.95 GPA when I graduated with 2 Associates degrees in International Studies and Social Science. The one B that I got was in a class totally unrelated to my major, that was in my 1st semester when I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was also a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honors society for community colleges, it sounds good to me but who knows?

American University is something I'd look into, although at this point you don't have much time, the deadline for Fall '11 is Jan 15, it could be done though, after the 15th your app could be considered on a rolling basis. To be honest I can't really find out if it's considered "better" or "worse" than GW, but it's absolutely one of the top as listed by the Foreign Policy Association. GW is my dream, but at this point being stuck in Arizona with my parents working at a preschool I'd be ecstatic with an acceptance letter from any of the 3 schools I'm applying too, even George Mason.

Also, I can't afford to pay for grad school at all, but that's where federal financial aid comes in. There's something called the GRAD PLUS loan that you'll see when filling out the FAFSA, it covers tuition and provides money for living expenses. A friend of mine, also at GW, received 9,000 dollars just for living expenses over a 3 month period as well as the loan for the tuition bill. That's what I'll be doing, can't do it without that. The move for me will be enormously expensive, but there's nothing for me out here, so I have to get out to DC regardless of the astronomical amount of debt that I'll be raking up.

You'll get into Mason no problem, even with my crap GRE score I'm confident I'd get in. You should be as close to DC as possible for this field. I mean I can't say anything with any certainty about this to you as I'm in the thick of it myself. But I've been very vigilant in my research and blog trolling, I've read lots about people with low GRE scores getting into this top school or that one, some with a not so great GPA but with interesting experience getting into that school..yada yada. Oh and also, admissions will certainly consider your over all GPA, but they'll specifically want to see that your major related courses are solid. A bad grade in chemistry will more than likely be forgiven whereas as a D in a political science course wouldn't. I got a C in one of my major courses, it was awful and I hated the professor, but I'm hoping that doesn't look too bad against the rest of the solid work that I did. Ok, wow, well I rambled on and on, hope that provides a little more support or at least encouragement.

mikeyc765

I will likely be applying for an IR-related field masters program in 3-4 years. Currently I am a senior undergrad at Cornell. I know my weakness will be GPA, which will probably end up between 3.4 and 3.5. I haven't done GRE's yet, but I feel confident I'll be able to do well on those. Here's what I think I'll have going for me though: 1) While GPA is low, it partly because of a decent workload at school, doing a double major in Economics and Government and two minors in International Relations and German Studies. 2) Fair amount of leadership/extra-extracurriculars. (President of an organization 2-years, Treasurer of International Affairs Society 2-years, officer role in another org. for 2-years, and this year running a 600 student high school Model UN conference). 3) What I think/hope would benefit me most is that I'll be working at a policy think-tank for 1-year at the Manhattan Institute and after will serve 2 years in the Peace Corps (already received nomination).

So, despite low GPA, would that work experience make me competitive for a top-IR program? I'm hoping so, but I always have huge issues being able to judge my own resume.

bigcountry83

Hi Mikey,

If you end up with a 3.5 GPA from Cornell that's not a weakness, that's right about where you should be. Of course all of that experience you have will make you very competitive and give you a very fair shot at a top school. Serving in the Peace Corps will give you a major edge. I'm relying on it myself. I got back from Ukraine a year ago...what region is your nomination for? The more you do as a volunteer the better. I would suggest writing a grant. I feel that the grant writing experience will give me an edge in the application process. I'm applying for International Development programs right now and having something so relevant to what I want to do to talk about in my purpose statement is helpful. I know plenty of volunteers who because of Peace Corps are currently students at the top schools, George Washington University and Georgetown. So you have a lot going for you for sure. If you'd like any inside info on the Peace Corps, just ask. Of course if you're going somewhere other than Eastern Europe my input will be limited, but there's lots of groups on Facebook for questions.

Yabanci

Hey Bigcountry,
Thanks for the info. I'm actually looking at programs like American and maybe GW. I don't have any substantial work experience besides my internships, so I'm a little worried about that. From what I have seen on the admissions pages on these programs, my gpa is quite a bit below their average/median, but I'm confident that I can score higher on the GRE, which I'm hoping can offset my gpa a little bit. I figure it's worth a shot to apply to programs in D.C. anyway, since the worst that can happen is losing the $50 application fee.

I'm also considering Boston University's program. The specializations and the courses the program offers are what I am interested in. However, I've read on here that going to school close to D.C. is better for connections. Has anyone heard anything about Boston University's program? I haven't seen much on here about it. I think I'd rather go to Boston University's program than George Mason's, even though Mason's is right outside D.C. Boston seems to have a better program, and the school has a better reputation than Mason. But I'm sure everyone in D.C. has heard of Mason; whether or not that's a good thing, I'm not sure.

echua14

Hi,

I've been going through a lot of pages on this forum, and I guess I'm in the same boat as everybody! Except I only applied to 2 'upper-tier' schools (Tufts and Columbia). I'm Canadian, so the prices are astronomical for me. My question is ... how come nobody talks about the, uh, lowest tier schools? City College New York as a 17k a year (for foreigners) Masters program. Does anybody know anything about these programs? Obviously, going to a "famous" school has it's perks but some of us really can't afford it and cant' deal with the poverty factor! Does anybody have any advice as to how my International Relations future could fare with a no-name-school?

flyers29

I'll let you in on a little secret, echua: the supposed prestige of these schools ain't all it's cracked up to be.

hchambers86

Waiting on early notification and getting antsy...has anyone heard yet?

intlpolicy10

A few people on gradcafe said that they heard from Fletcher. Good news, hchambers?

Atican

"I'll let you in on a little secret, echua: the supposed prestige of these schools ain't all it's cracked up to be."

Another little secret: the degree ain't all it's cracked up to be. Having said that, the better the school and brand name, the more valuable the degree. I think you're essentially buying the brand name, as a lot of people in MPP/MIA/MPA programs think they didn't learn much after graduating. So, Harvard > City College, no question.

flyers29

Atican: My point was that the ceiling for an entry-level career is pretty similar regardless of school in this field. If you work for the government, they don't care where you got your degree. I don't think you're going to find a lot of people with BAs from Harvard going to work at a smallish non-profit for $30k per year, but you might find that from people who have MAs from the prestigious IR schools (and you'll probably find people who went to the less prestigious ones as well). Point is, there is a lot more parity here than in some other fields where name can mean everything.

IRgirl1990

This forum looks really helpful. Can anyone tell me their opinion on if they think I have a chance at grad school for an MAIR program? Possibly GWU or UCSD?

-graduated from UC Davis (top 10 public university)
-3.2 cumulative GPA, 3.4 major GPA
-double major: International Relations/Middle East South Asia Studies
-fluent in Farsi, proficient in Italian, Spanish, French
-President Model UN Conference, multiple leadership roles in Student Government
-two research internships with prof., will get letter of rec. from head of IR dept.
-started organization for underprivileged kids in Morocco
-volunteer abroad in Beijing for 1 month
-UN internship for 3 months in Washington, DC

-not sure of GRE scores yet

Any feedback would be appreciated..thanks all!