I hear you but as an international applicant, I really need some guaranteed prospect at landing a decent job at a lib dem country. So yes when I applied I aimed to do mainstream research at a top program- I have a bachelor in top non U.S. institution and am graduating from a top ma in US with good GRE and GPA- I know I wouldn’t be attending some school even with an admit -
i know this mindset probably doesn’t make me a good minimum wager at top schools but in general I am honestly not that enthusiastic about the academia and research that I would be willing to do unrecognized work for years at a less known place… if all the top schools don’t really have a match then I am honestly done.