Political Science PhD Profile Evaluation - are top 10 programs out of my reach?

[zereg]

Hi all! 

I've always found this forum to be helpful for advice, hoping y'all can help me again. Last year I posted here because I was uncertain about taking a gap year. The gap year was recommended to me here and it was an EXCELLENT suggestion, but now I'm a year out of school and applying to comparative politics PhD programs for fall 2018. I'm feeling a bit discouraged because almost all the schools I'm applying to are within the top 10 and I feel like they might be out of my reach. Should I add or remove some?

BA(07/2017): Top 15 U.S. private university, majored in Poli Sci, minored in Spanish and Marketing

GPA: 3.77 / Poli Sci GPA: 3.9

Graduate studies: None, though I took a PhD level quantitative causal inference course and a masters' level quantitative marketing course (think like factor analysis, cluster analysis, etc.) and got an A- and an A respectively.

GRE: V: 166; Q: 162; AW: (not sure, just took the GRE about a week ago, but I think I did well).

LOR: one from renowned professor in the field I'm looking into (political violence -- he does civil wars specifically), one from a professor I RA'd for a year for though her research is slightly out of my field of interest (more IR focused), I alternate the last letter from my senior thesis advisor and one from a professor who I took two research seminars I did quite well in depending on the program. I'm confident they're all good but probably not super personalized.

Research: 

• Currently working at a non-profit social science research institute as an RA but doing pretty unrelated work (education research, some international development stuff which more closely matches with what I'm interested in).
• Undergraduate research grant -- independent project I made a poster for at my school's poster fair that I got an award at (there were several "first places" so not as impressive as it may seem)
• Research internship at a central bank of a Latin American country
• Fellowship for a funded an RA experience for about a year -- no author roles, but I did a lot of work and am acknowledged in several publications
• Honors thesis which an excerpt will serve as my writing sample
• Very experienced in STATA and R (I use those programs at work)
• Presentation at a political science research conference this coming January (not a super well-known one)
• No publications

Universities I am considering: 

UChicago is my favorite option and I think most realistic top choice. Dream would be Stanford or MIT. Others I'm applying to: Columbia, Yale, Princeton and Georgetown.

I don't mean to seem ungrateful or anything like that, I think I know I have a strong profile, but I'm just curious if you think the range of schools I'm applying to is good or too limited. I'm worried most about my GPA and quant GRE. I'm afraid 7 programs isn't enough and have been feeling really nervous about it as the deadlines get closer. Am I too late?

[guest56436]

You are competitive as anyone else who is applying. Apply to all top 10 and top 20 programs that there is a good fit. 

Top 20 programs:
Stanford University
Harvard University
Princeton University
University of California - Berkeley (USB)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
Yale University
Columbia University
Duke University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
California - San Diego (UCSD)
University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill (UNC/UNC-CH)
New York University (NYU)
University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA)
University of Chicago
Ohio State University (OSU)
University of Wisconsin - Madison
University of California - Davis (UCD)
University of Rochester
Cornell University
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU/WUSTL)
University of Pennsylvania (Penn/UPenn)
University of Texas - Austin

[diter91]

I'll second @Comparativist

[jnewcomb08]

anyone that has a calvin and hobbes profile picture reference is top-10 material in my book.

[dagnabbit]

Yeah, apply to all of the places you listed - not sure why Georgetown would make sense for comparative, though. Have you considered the top UCs (particularly Berkeley and UCSD)?