Akratiarensis

Hi everyone, I am in the process of applying to the graduate programs in philosophy that start in Fall 2020. I'm in my senior year at the best philosophy department in my country. But it's definitely not very well known compared to the prestigious universities in the U.S. and the Western Europe. So, I reckon I am going to be a slightly disadvantaged international applicant. I am interested in the philosophy of action. My writing sample is on the weakness of will and revolves around the paradox Davidson presents in "How Is Weakness of Will Possible?". I think I have some quite serious problems about my applications because of the following: - My GPA is 3.8 and philosophy GPA is 4. Both are the highest in the department. But the problem is my school does not have a worldwide prestige. Additionally, my letter writers do not have a worldwide reputation, although they received their PhDs from the top 20 schools worldwide, and know me very well as we are a small department. - My writing sample is not completely finished yet. What I am going to write is pretty clear, but still I am going to have 1.5 month at most to make it as polished as possible after finishing it. I am planning to apply to schools that have deadlines in January and February. - I am going to take GRE at the end of this month. I have been preparing for it since the last summer, but I am pretty sure that my verbal section is not going to be great. Tests show that I am pretty good at the quantitative section (165+) but usually score less than 160 (usually 156-7) in the verbal section. Because of my taking GRE a bit late, I am not going to be able to apply to schools that have deadlines in December. - I have a budget limit that cannot allow me to apply to more than 10-15 schools. I am going to have to pay all of the application fees the schools request because I am an international applicant. So, given my condition, I think I should not apply to the most of the top schools. But I may apply to FSU, Cornell, and USC because they seem to be strong in my AOI, though no one seems to recommend Florida State. Should I even consider applying to other top 20 or so schools? I tried to find some "safety" schools to apply, but everywhere seems equally competitive to me. It would be great to hear if you have any suggestions about where would be a "safety" school in my condition. My professors suggested that I might increase my chances of getting an acceptance by also applying to some MA programs like Brandeis, Simon Fraser, and Tufts. I don't really know much about these MA programs, and I am not sure how "easier" it would be to get into them for me. I would be grateful to hear your opinions about applying to these MA programs. I also have an option to do MA in my school to prepare better for the PhD programs. I am not sure whether this is a good idea because previous best students graduated in our department were usually be able to get accepted into universities like Indiana, Simon Fraser, Syracuse, and Illinois at Chicago. I am also generally open to any other advice you could give. Thank you!