Relevance of Foreign languages to Masters/PhD programs?

Graduate School
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I’m currently a sophomore about to go into his junior year at VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). My current major is Political Science with a focus on International relations and a minor in economics…I’ve recently been thinking about my future and I’ve been very worried about my chances to get into a reasonably competitive graduate school

I’ve got an abysmal GPA and a list of extracurricular/AP courses from high school which is not particularly impressive.
Right now I’m sitting at a 3.0 with the hope to finish with at least a 3.5. I’m heavily involved in Greek Life at my school and have held many positions in my fraternity. Thankfully despite my lackluster performance in the tangibles of school I was blessed to have lived an international lifestyle, having lived in five different countries and attended various renowned international schools. As such I have a full fluency in two languages (English, Korean), with a business proficiency in two more (German, Spanish). What factor could this play into a potential applicaiton I submit to a school such as Upenn or chicago?

Edited thread title
ED

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@ComradeH , you’ll probably get more responses to your thread if you are able to fix the title - have no idea what you are asking since “releance” isn’t a word (not being snarky, I’m truly not clear what you are asking.)

See if the moderator can fix it if you can’t.

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Oh, I thought you were misspelling reliance but you actually meant to say relevance.

I think a better heading would be Benefit of Foreign Languages, or Advantage of Foreign Languages.

Good luck - hope you get some helpful answers!

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Yea sorry I meant Relevance

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What kind of graduate school?

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Political Science

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Certainly include them, but I don’t think your foreign languages will gain you admittance to a school you are not otherwise qualified for.

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While knowledge of foreign languages can indirectly help when studying subjects about countries where those languages are used (e.g. Korean, Spanish, or German politics), such knowledge by itself will not get you into a PhD program in political science. Do well in your political science courses and do some undergraduate research (where you may find use of the foreign languages).

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First of all, forget about HS. Nobody in the future cares about HS except you graduated.

It’s all about college…Talk to your adviser or favorite Poli Sci professor about your goals…they will help you formulate a plan.

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I think involvement in extracurriculars is a really important and enriching part of college life, and I am a big proponent of students doing things that aren’t directly or even at all related to graduate school and jobs.

That said, you said that you are “heavily” involved in Greek life and have held “many” positions in your fraternity, despite being only about 2.5 semester into it (assuming you joined in the late fall of your freshman year). Perhaps you should pull back a bit to focus more time on school work and increase your GPA? It’s possible that’s not the cause at all, but it did jump out at me.

That said, your language proficiency in political science only matters insomuch that is is relevant to your research area. If you are interested in, say, the comparative political economy of East Asian countries your fluency in Korean will be a plus - but also expected. Most students entering a top political science program with an interest in East Asia will have proficiency or fluency in one East Asian language. Many PhD programs in the more humanistic social sciences like to see reading proficiency in German because a lot of older scholarly texts are written in that language (and French). But some political science programs are moving away from that a little and preferring knowledge in one that is relevant to your research and then some quantitative facility with statistics and such.

Also, at top program like Penn and Chicago, a large percentage of the applicants will have proficiency in at least one language, and many will have it in two.

Even for an MA in political science this info is probably the same. (For, say, a master’s in international affairs your language skills will be much more helpful/more of a boost. But that’s a professional degree.)

So focus on improving your grades in your political science courses and see if you can become a research assistant for a political science professor. You need research experience.