DONTDOIT

Rochester >>> Emory >UIUC Emory will say "But we just hired Patty/Penn" but they aren't there yet, they don't have a sequence designed. Rochester's placement speaks for itself.

I am at a "top 1" department and am a comparativist with limited language skills. It can be done.

No, its actually the top 25. You just can't count.

Wow the OP should really reconsider if he/she wants to spend the next 5/6 years of her life studying something he/she knows NOTHING about.

I would go to Berkeley, the trioika of Pierson Hacker and Levy tops Harvard if you are set on a qualitative/historical approach. Though if you are into welfare state politics (and aren't commited to a geographic focus) there is nobody better than Torben Iversen and Peter Hall at Harvard. Though, American, is relatively weak at Harvard. In all honesty, you can't really go wrong with either so go wherever you think you would be happiest.

Talk to as many grad students as possible and not just the enthusiastic ones.

Visit weekends are BS. Most professors don't care about you or your research interests but are going to give you the hard sell regardless. Moreover, if a department puts on a great visit it DOESN'T mean its a great department. You have to really dig deep during your time at each place to find out if it is the right environment to spend the next 5-7 years. I didn't and wound up at a place I am quite unhappy with.