Chances?

[wmplax]

Hi all--

So, as per several other posts, I'm interested in hearing whoever's advice on my chances to political theory programs. I'll try to be as specific as possible--any advice or opinions are welcome.

Undergraduate: 3.37 GPA from large state school freshman year; transferred to NYU thereafter, where I graduated summa cum laude (3.95; top 5%) with an interdisciplinary major in Political Philosophy. I took a graduate course in democratic theory my freshman year (got an A), and two graduate courses thereafter (both As). Though, given the nature of my interdisciplinary program, very few of my classes were actually in the Poli-Sci department--however, it is very clear, from titles and SOP descriptions, that my coursework is centered around canonical political theory issues. Also freshman year: got invited to ACC Meeting of the Minds conference, where I presented a book-length research project on epistemology and politics; sophomore year: developed my own research project where I studied the deliberative processes of a homeless group in Union Square.

GRE: took it twice. first time: 167V (98%), 149Q (49%), 5.5 AW (96%). second time: 166V (97%), 154 (67%), 4.5 AW (76%).

Strong recs: 1 is a recognized political theorist; 1 is an adjunct professor (I took three classes with him, though, and produced three 50-page research projects) in philosophy and poltiics; 1 is a chaired professor in the German dept.

My interests: democratic theory (deliberation and distributive justice), civic culture, theories of nationalism, philosophy of language, and political realism. My proposed research project focuses on the way history is construed and appropriated in different democratic traditions, and in particular how divergences in historical knowledge reflect divides over the "certainty" of justifiable facts, contributing to notions of intergroup/ethnic conflict and cultural drift.

My writing sample: 1 tailored for Berkeley and Stanford, drawing from a couple professors at both--I focus on civic culture, arguing for a rational convention-follower who fields concordant strategies in order to play "simultaneous games"; working on Yale, Princeton and Cornell's.

Applying to: Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Princeton, Cornell.

My question: I am thoroughly fucked by the low GRE Q? I'm actually a very good "fit" at several of the programs, and my research interests coincide almost directly with some of my proposed faculty--though, I know that Stanford is keen on quant, and was curious as to whether this Q score dashes my hopes.

Feedback appreciated.

[AlphabetSoup]

The beauty of PhD applications is that you won't know your chances until Feb or March. You are obviously a strong applicant or someone (one of your letter writers, perhaps) would have already told you to re-assess your choice of schools. A backup plan is never a bad thing (applying to some MA programs? backups? research fellowships?) but other than that, you just have to keep your chin up, have confidence in what you have done in preparation for your apps, and wait it out like everyone else. Good luck!