World Systems/ Pol Soc Programs

[penpen]

Hey, few questions:

My broad area of interest is political sociology (state theory, social movements, pol econ of development, world systems analysis)

I am looking to apply to about eight programs. Does anyone have any recommendations? I don't think I can afford to apply to too many top-tier schools because I'm not sure I'll get in.

Brief profile:

I am graduating with a bachelors in Chemical Engineering along with a Sociology minor this semester. I decided to apply to sociology grad programs early this fall.

My overall GPA is 3.62 (4.0 scale) and I do have a sociology GPA of 4.0 (although I'm not sure this matters because I have only taken 4 with letter grade; 1 was transferred).

I am going to be taking the GRE mid November and I think I should score in the 1300 range (using the old score system). I am getting LORs from professors/instructors with whom I've taken soc courses (including a grad seminar on social movements).

I do not have any research experience in sociology. My final paper for the grad seminar was more of a literature review on the topic I was writing on.

-Now, keeping all this in mind, what programs do you think I should be looking at? I don't think the engineering background will go over particularly well so I'm kind of scared that I won't even be admitted to mid-tier schools.

Some of the schools I looking at are UC-Irvine, UC-Riverside, UC-Santa Cruz, SUNY Binghamton.

I'm not sure if I should be applying to more elite schools like Johns H, NYU, Indiana, UMich. What do you think?