Profile Eval Request - political theory

[verschiedene]

I am hoping to specialize in political theory/philosophy with a focus on critical theory and feminist theory. 

Undergrad GPA: 4.0.  Majors in Government (what my school calls polisci) and German studies. Public school, ranks around #30-40 in US.

GRE: 170 verbal, 168 quantitative, 5.0 writing.

LORs: Two decent ones from my honors thesis advisors (one in Government and the other in German department), so they know my writings pretty well. Another professor (pretty well-established in this field) who I had for critical theory last year while I was a visiting student there. 

Research experience: Research assistant at my school's IR lab for two years. Honors thesis on critical theory (topic relates to feminist theory and Habermas).

Writing sample: I am really worried about this. I had planned to use my honors thesis but my advisor suggested that it is still an unfinished work; so i might submit two shorter essays from last year. Decent quality at best. 

Right now I plan to apply to most of the top10 which I feel are a long shot (Harvard, Yale, UChicago, Princeton, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern). My more hopeful focuses are on Berkeley, Michigan, New School and UCLA. Are these latter ones within reach? What others schools are within the similar range and good for critical theory?

And always would love to talk to ppl also applying this year to political theory! Exchange comments on SOPs and writing samples etc. 

Edited October 27, 2020 by verschiedene

[poliprof]

Virginia, McGill, CUNY Grad Center