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What level of program would accept a white American male with GREs of 640v/600m and a 3.4 GPA from a top-15 undergrad school? I am fluent in Chinese and have extensive research, work, and study experience in China. I'm looking into PhD programs in Communication (USC, Northwestern, Penn), PhD in International Relations (American University), master's programs in East Asian Studies (Cornell, UVA), and master's programs in International Relations/Affairs (Columbia, George Washington U.).

What are my chances, and what can I do to maximize my chances of admission to at least one of these programs? Thanks!

By Fendergirl (Fendergirl) on Saturday, September 18, 2004 - 09:58 am: Edit

i do'nt know much about that, but my roommate is applying to schools such as princeton, MIT, columbia, etc and we just go to a small LAC that most noone has ever heard of :P so hopefully she gets in, and hopefully you do as well

By Zcat18 (Zcat18) on Saturday, September 18, 2004 - 10:25 am: Edit

Good luck to her! Let's hope it's a good year for all of us.

By Zcat18 (Zcat18) on Monday, September 20, 2004 - 02:04 am: Edit

bump

By Massdad (Massdad) on Tuesday, September 21, 2004 - 11:16 pm: Edit

Grad school admissions are much more idiosyncratic than undergrad, so it is very hard to generalize. The circumstances vary department by department in a U, as admissions decisions are made by the department. Your performance in classes related to grad work is much more important than your overall GPA.

Personally, I think both your GRE scores and your GPA are a bit low for top tier departments.

You really need to talk to profs at your current school. Top programs rely heavily on their alumni network to feed students, so many slots in top programs are pre-sold, so to speak.