ManFromMalmesbury

Hey everybody, I guess I'm a bit late to this thread but I'm curious to know where other theorists applied and what you're interested in studying. I applied to Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Chicago, and Harvard (yeah... not very realistic, but seemingly the only schools with a realistic shot at TT positions for theorists, sadly), and the MPhil at Cambridge. Hoping to work on Hobbes and Schmitt. I would also be really grateful for any kind of eval, though obviously it's past the point of changing anything! Here's my info: Undergrad: In the top 10-20 nationally, PS department with a comparative strength in theory GPA: 3.83 overall, 3.94 major GRE: 169V / 158Q (hoping theorists can overlook this..) / 5.0 AW Currently have a fellowship to study political thought in Europe, but not toward a degree Weakness: Writing sample was from senior year independent study, but in comparative (not theory), though it deals more with democratic theory than quant heavy comparative stuff... Hopefully this doesn't communicate a big lack of focus. I just didn't have as developed of a piece of independent work in theory. LORs span the subfields, which I figure could either help or hurt based on the reader(s). One question--I spent a lot of time up front reading lit. by relevant profs at the programs and getting in touch with a short research proposal. Got enthusiastic feedback from a couple and warm responses from the majority of the rest. Silence from a couple. Does this contact matter? I realize it's a total gamble who ends up on the admissions committees, but I was told having made some contact with relevant profs was important. Still a bit in the dark on that, really... Thanks for considering and best of luck to everyone else!