Political Theory. UCI vs UCLA vs Cornell(waitlisted)

[varimerthas]

Hello everyone. I hope everybody is having a good cycle. I am interested in critical theory and democratic theory. UCI is a great fit. But people have advised me to choose UCLA or wait at least for Cornell waitlist result. I am a bit confused. As a sidenote, I will not be staying in the U.S after finishing my Ph.D. Any advice on how to move forward?

[Bibica]

So rank tends to matter for people who are going into academia in the U.S. I'm not sure how much it matters for you, or whether you should consider fit the most. Will you be attending visiting days? I would recommend doing that, talking to professors at UCLA and Cornell to determine fit, and then making your decision. You could also email Cornell and see when they expect to let you know their final decision--technically you don't have to say yes to any schools until April 15th, so if you aren't 100 percent sure of where you want to go then I would wait.

[varimerthas]

I will not be able to attend the visiting days. Thank you for your recommendations I will talk to the faculty at ucla and cornell. Cornell said they hope to let me know by april 1st. I will wait out until then probably.