German PhD advice

[S.K.]

Hello,

I am an international Student, currenty finishing a masters degree and i am interested in continuing for PhD.

I don't know much about the Schools in the US (rankings, good/bad programs etc.) i could use some advise because the professors at my university have no clue

 

I am going to apply for a PhD in German this year, to start Fall 2014! And i plan to apply to about 10 schools

I am not an awesome student so i will not apply to Harvard, Stanfort, Princeton etc. but i want to apply to decent schools with good programs.

The question i ask myself a lot is: ''Is ranking that importand?'' in my country it's not but i always read about ''top schools'' and ''rankings'' when it comes to the US.

could you help me with a couple decent schools?

thank you