Hey guys!
I am almost done with my studies in Europe and this year I am going to apply for PhD in the U.S. So, here is the thing. I completed my BA in Sociology with GPA of 3.95. Then I decided to change the field a bit and got enrolled to an MA program in Political Science. Now I have almost finished the first year, but got a poorer result of something about 3.5 out of 4 (it is not a final grade, but I will probably need to send exactly these preliminary transcripts with my PhD application). So, the questions are as follows:
1) How problematic is it for my application in general? I mean I read that many schools pay most of their attention to an undergraduate degree. At the same time I could imagine that my situation might be comprehended as "a bad trend" or something.
2) If it really could be a problem, I am wondering whether it'd be better to explain this situation in my statement of purpose (I changed my major etc.)
3) All other things being equal (and I really mean it!), do you think that given my situation I am more competitive for a PhD in Sociology or PhD in Political Science? My research interest actually lies in between these fields and I have quite similar experience and knowledge of both of them. On the one hand, I would assume I am more competitive for Sociology, because of the higher grades, but at the same time, it could seem that I didn't succeed in Political Science and decided to return. So, on the other hand, my way to Political Science is more straight-forward and even though I have lower grades in it, I could still catch up completing MA requirements during my PhD.
Thanks!