I definitely am looking at the Aga Khan program but I have to be honest I am nervous about applying to all of these schools, seeing as the list is turning out to be Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UCLA/ Berkley, and Columbia.
I have an opportunity in my masters program right now to do a research project (for a specific course) on exactly what I want to pursue for my phd, and then when I write my thesis I will have my writing sample in mind for that. You mentioned research-proposal-based awards, what do you mean by that? How do I do that?