Do I have the right strategy? Where am I competitive?

[wohohow]

Hi everyone, 

My goal is to get into a top-10/15 political science PhD program in the United States, where I would like to focus on international relations and security. At the moment, I'm wondering if I have my priorities straight in terms of my application. Given my less-than-perfect grades, I know that I need to make sure that the rest of my application is up to snuff. At the moment, my plan is to polish my writing sample (my MA thesis) and my SOP.

I am not sure if I should invest in taking the GRE again. I live outside the United States and the test is expensive--I'd rather put that money toward applying to two more schools. I will, however, re-take if the general sense is that getting to 160 Q from my current 158 Q will be a significant boost to my competitiveness.

Could anyone tell me if I have a serious chance at schools like Princeton, MIT, or Chicago? If not, could someone advise what 'tier' I would be competitive for? Anything that I'm missing out on? 

PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Top university in my country
Major(s)/Minor(s): Double degree, Social Sciences (Sociology) and Development Studies
GPA: 3.3 (Note: Although also on a 4-point scale, the grading system isn't the same as the US. The faculty voted me the best student in the program that year.) 
GRE: 168 V, 158 Q, 5.5 AW
Any Special Courses: Research Methods, Qualitative Methods, Quantitative Methods (2-part sequence), Thesis using quantitative methods. My thesis was accepted at a regional conference where I was the sole undergraduate panelist. 

Type of Graduate Institution: Highly regarded US policy school, non-Ivy. 
Major(s)/Minor(s): Security Studies (terminal MA)
GPA: 3.7
Any Special Courses: Thesis using mixed methods, variety of IR/security coursework.
Letters of Recommendation: (1) Director of Graduate Studies, who became a personal mentor. He liked my work enough to go the extra mile in finding me a job after graduation. (2) My MA advisor who supervised my thesis and is a name brand in his sub-field. (3) Toss-up between a third highly regarded MA professor, who offered me a research job (didn't/couldn't take for visa reasons) or my undergraduate thesis advisor, who has seen more of my research although it's been a while. All have written strong letters of recommendation for me in the past, but for research/teaching jobs and not for a PhD program. 

Research Experience:  I am currently a researcher at a think tank in my home country, where I've produced a few reports (2 solo and 1 co-authored), all related to my field of study and using new data. No peer-reviewed publications yet, but one conference presentation.
Teaching Experience: 2 semesters as a lecturer (instructor of record), teaching introductory political science, international relations, and US foreign policy. I have a few years under my belt training/advising students in various other capacities--usually in workshops or camps for undergrads. 
Subfield/Research Interests: International Relations and Comparative Politics, with more specific interests in alliance politics and East Asia. 
Awards: Undergrad award for best student in the Social Sciences, merit scholarships funded my MA, and a bunch of national/Asia championships in debating.
Other: I've published a couple of short articles with good US think tanks. Two years of full-time experience (also writing reports) with an international organization before my MA. Two internships with other IOs and a third with our Embassy to the United States. 

[Determinedandnervous]

Your file is quite competitive and should give you a decent shot at a top 10/15 school. The gains you would get from increasing your quant score are marginal. However, if you want to do it just to have the peace of mind that you have a 160+ score, then do it.

[wohohow]

21 minutes ago, Determinedandnervous said:

Your file is quite competitive and should give you a decent shot at a top 10/15 school. The gains you would get from increasing your quant score are marginal. However, if you want to do it just to have the peace of mind that you have a 160+ score, then do it.

Thank you @Determinedandnervous. Apart from the GRE, do you think there is anything else that I can do to make my application stand out? I am regretting not immediately reworking my MA thesis for publication. I think it is too late now for me to rush and submit to a journal (and pray for a miracle that it gets an R&R somewhere by December 1). At the same time, I'm not sure if getting more non peer-reviewed pieces out there, which I could do, will help my application. 

[Determinedandnervous]

I mean you don't really need to do much, though if you wanted to rework your MA thesis for a publication you could do that and even if you don't finish during application season, you could put it as a working paper or a work in progress on your CV. Not having peer reviewed publications when applying to grad school does not hurt you by any means. People go on the academic job market without publications.

The fact that you have 2 solo-authored policy reports (even if they're not peer-reviewed) indicates that you have the ability to do independent research, which would be the same signal having a paper under review (which as you know would be likely the case since journals take their sweet time getting back to people on their submissions). If for any reason you don't feel confident enough about your MA thesis at this point, you could use one of these solo-authored pieces.

Therefore, rework your thesis for a publication during application season only if you think you can juggle that and the application process. It can be quite difficult, so if you end up needing to prioritize, prioritize your application. Your profile is incredibly strong, much stronger than mine when I applied. Just work on making a killer SOP and there's nothing stopping you from getting into a top school.