Hi everyone! I’m currently a sophomore in college at American University (in DC), but planning on graduating either after my junior year or first semester senior year, depending on whether or not I take a minor. I’m majoring in International Studies and looking at continuing in this field of study until I achieve a Masters degree.
Currently my GPA is decent but not stellar at a 3.67 overall and 3.75 within my major (I got roughly a 3.55 and took 17 credits both semesters freshman year, but my GPA is showing significant improvement and will hopefully continue to do so the rest of my college career (I took 17 credits again this past semester and pulled out with a 3.95)). However, beyond getting a decent GPA and a high score on the GRE as well as forming strong relationships with professors, I’m unsure what other steps I should be taking when preparing to attend grad school.
I’ve been participating in quite a few extracurriculars, but I’m not sure how relevant that is to a grad school application. Should I be focusing more on internships or research? Will going into the Peace Corps after graduation (as I plan to) help my chances? (I probably will regardless, but I don’t know if it’s seen as more detrimental to an application than ordinary work experience of if it’s looked upon well) I also am not sure my GPA is high enough to be considered for any especially prestigious programs.
For context, I’m looking at applying to grad programs either in Washington DC (such as Georgetown, if I can keep my GPA up to par) or abroad (my current ideal program would be at the University of Edinburgh because my family has strong ties to Scotland, or somewhere in England, like Oxford, although I know it’s very competitive). Any help or guidance would be appreciated! Thanks!
Also yes, I plan to see a grad advisor. I was just hoping to see if anyone here had any insights that my grad advisor might not be able to offer me, as there are very few of them and many students they have to help.
Internships & research >> ECs
Edinburgh is a pretty straight entry- ballpark a 3.5GPA or better and write a decent statement of purpose and you should be ok- as long as you are prepared to pay all the fees. Oxford wants a 3.7 or better minimum, and will be looking for evidence of further achievements in the area.
Georgetown SFS has some very specific requirements- including a semester each of micro & macro econ. If you aren’t taking a non-native language now, get cracking.
For all Master’s programs, but esp the UK you need to spend time working out exactly what you want from a Masters’s program. Some are more practical, some more theoretical. An MPhil in IR is a completely different beast than an MSc in IR at Edinburgh. Figure out what you want from any Masters program and then find the programs that work with it, rather than picking some famous names and hoping they work.
Professional programs, like an MIA, will want internships and work experience. The average age at those programs tends to be in the 24-27 range, indicating that students on average work 2-5 years after finishing undergrad.
The Peace Corps, as I understand it, is looked upon very favorably at many of these universities, and there are special master’s degrees in IR that Peace Corps alumni can get that take their PC experience as credit for the program. I think they’re called Master’s International programs.
Research can help on a resume but you should only do it if you actually want to do it and are interested in doing research as a career. Doing some of it can help you learn some valuable skills.