Global Studies Graduate Programme

The Graduate Programmes in Liberal Arts can be interesting, exciting, challenging and also useful from the professional development perspective. There are many Graduate Programmes in Global Studies that offer funding and good career prospects after completing the Graduate Programme. 

Apart from giving outlets in academic jobs, a Graduate degree can give you access to jobs in think tanks, NGOs, policy making organisations and in international organisations such as the UN and its affiliates.

Some of the disciplines that are evolved out of Global Studies are conflict resolution, global governance, human security, international relations and social and public policy.

Because of the areas covered, this discipline leads to many policy-making related jobs. Hence, it's a good decision for this field if one wants to be involved in policy research and policy advisory positions.

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Dual Degree Programs as Graduate Study Options

While applying for Graduate Study, many candidates are not aware that there are dual degree options available in many disciplines. These dual degree options take you a long way in finding jobs after completing your Graduate study. This is because the disciplines are blended thoughtfully by the programmes, so that the candidate can go into multiple job tracks.

Some of the important dual degree programmes available in various Graduate Programmes combine Communication and Management, Communication and Law, Design and Law, Design and Historic Preservation, Energy and Management, Environment and Law etc.

Many of these programmes are also funded and a careful selection of programmes can give the candidates an extra edge in their career paths once they graduate.

As usual, most of these Programmes require 4-6 courses in the relevant areas at the Undergraduate level. So, if you didn't have these courses in the Undergraduate level, you can take them separately if possible. If this option is not there in your country, many of these universities allow you to complete those courses before beginning the Graduate study in your dual degree areas.

It is worthwhile to check for this information before you begin applying. 

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How Important is the GRE?

The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is a standardised test comprising of verbal, quantitative and writing skills testing sections. In the current format, it scores between 130 and 170 on the verbal and the quantitative sections and 0-6.0 in 0.5 increments on the writing skills section. It is a required test for admissions applications for most US universities and also for some European universities.

Candidates place a lot of importance on the GRE scores and work very hard to score very well on this test. However, a look at the admissions trend of the various US universities shows that the GRE is actually much less important than the other parts of the application. The Statement of Purpose (SOP), the Writing Sample and the Letters of Recommendations (LORs) are the three most important parts of Graduate Admission process. The next comes the previous GPA. The most important aspect for the American universities appears to be the prestige of the institution from where a candidate has got the previous degrees. A candidate with a lower GPA and lower GRE score from a prestigious institution can be accepted over a candidate from a average-ranked institution, if the SOP, Writing Sample and the LORs are good in both cases.

As for the GRE scores themselves, they have varying importance in different disciplines. In Sciences, Technology, Economics and Mathematical disciplines (STEM), the Quantitative scores o the GRE matter a lot and a score lower than 160 out of 170 can jeopardise the admissions chances of the candidate. On the other hand, verbal scores are not very important and a score of 150+ is treated as acceptable. In contrast, in the Social Sciences, both verbal and quantitative scores are important and one should ideally get closer to or above 160 on both sections in order to get admitted into a good Graduate programme. In the Humanities, only the verbal section is important and the candidates are expected to get a good score on the verbal section. Quantitative scores are not regarded as important in the Humanities disciplines even in the most prestigious universities.

This said, as said above, prestige of the previous institutions, SOP, Writing Sample and the LORs are more important than the GRE in all disciplines and if all of these are strong, then a somewhat lower GRE score can get a candidate. But if these are not strong, then a high GRE score can't get the candidate admission. It seems that the GPA is linked with the prestige of the previous institution.

So, a good strategy is to keep all parts of a Graduate application strong and to get the high GRE scores on the sections important in one's discipline. 

Some universities specifically write on their website that GRE is only a requirement and they give importance to the whole application package. In some places, where funding does not automatically guarantee admission, GRE scores can play a role in funding. Some Programmes specifically mention the minimum GRE scores required by them. 

So, it is a good idea to explore the universities' websites thoroughly and enquire from the Programmes about what role the GRE plays in admission. In most cases, it plays a less important role than what is imagined by the candidates.

Email - artandheritage@gmail.com (Art & Culture Centre/Overseas Education Counselling Division)