Prospective Political Theory Graduate Student

[Historical&Unpatterned]

Hi all. I am applying to graduate school programs in political theory and in political philosophy for the fall term of 2019. I wanted to know if anyone has any insights on my stats in relation to the schools I'm applying to. 

Undergrad Institution: University of California, Davis 
Cumulative GPA: 3.91 
Major (Philosophy) GPA: 3.96 
Research: An academic term's worth of research under my belt, in addition to an additional academic term of research that I will be conducting in the winter of this year. Additionally, enrolled in a graduate student as an undergraduate. 
GRE Verbal: 162 (91st percentile) 
GRE Quantitative: 156 (61st percentile -- I know, math is just not my strong suit at all.) 
GRE Analytical Writing: 5.0 (92nd percentile) 
Internships: 1 summer at a real estate planning law firm and 1 academic term for a journalistic publication writing articles for the local court watch column
Conferences: Attended 1 conference with the Institute for Humane Studies and 1 conference with the Young Americans for Liberty 
Clubs: Member of both Minorities and Philosophy on campus and the Young Americans for Liberty
Recommendations: 1 recommendation from my research sponsor, 1 recommendation from my favorite philosophy teacher, and 1 recommendation from my former high school philosophy teacher who is now an adjunct professor at American University
Writing Sample: I am workshopping it currently, but I believe it will be a really strong work comparatively. 

The schools I'm applying to are: Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Brown, University of Arizona, Vanderbilt, NYU, UCSD, UCD, UC Berkeley, Duke, Notre Dame, and Cornell. 

I know my GRE scores are comparatively low but I studied my whole summer to get those scores and I don't have the money to take it again before this application season is over, especially with the money I will be dishing out for the applications themselves. And I furthermore know that the job market for political theory/political science PhDs in academia is small and altogether not good. But I cannot think of anything in my life I would rather do. It's the only thing I think about, and being among my peers in undergrad is so isolating because nobody else is passionate about the things I'm passionate about. I just want either assurance or a reality check so I can have reasonable expectations going into this application season. Any and all input would be much appreciated. 
 

[MyWay]

Not a theorist but my piece of advice would be that do not identify yourself on these online forums...

[sagnik_mrunique]

I have the same question and want to know how important is (a+b) whole square to work on Heidegger, Marx and Derrida !

[IR1995]

I would really try to narrow down schools a bit. 13 is a lot..both in terms of money and effort (your recommenders may also not appreciate being asked to submit that many letters). In terms of your admissions chances,  a lot of aspects of your application look strong to me. As you'll find on this forum, much of the admissions process is idiosyncratic. I think you should focus on reviewing literature in your field and determining which academics are doing work you're interested in. Try to get your school list narrowed to 6-9 schools with multiple faculty members doing work at least tangentially related to your main interest, and preferably at least one that is doing work very closely linked to your interest. 

[redfive]

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Edited October 31, 2018 by redfive

[arwang]

I think you are very competitive, especially in comparison to me...I think your GRE scores are decent. If you check relevant statistics many universities published on their websites, math for Political Science programmes does not really matter that much. 

Sign, this is my third round of application for a theory field PhD, and as non-western educated person, I really don't know if my career choice makes any sense anymore.

Good luck to you though.  I would also suggest that you narrow down your school choices and focus on the schools that fit your interested area.