Help me pick schools (post your list and ask for suggestions)

[08Applicant]

Help me pick more (or cut) schools

My research interests include micro theory, industrial organization, and applied micro-econometrics. These are not ranked by preference or set in stone. I'm looking to add schools to the list or possibly remove some if you think it's a bad fit. Schools I'm looking to add would be ranked 15-40 as safety schools. I'd like the final # to fall within 10-15 applications.

My current list (listed by US news ranking):

MIT
Harvard
Stanford
Berkeley
UCSD
UCLA
NYU
Caltech

If you add a school, please tell me its strengths. Or if you cut a school, tell me why it sucks for me.

Thanks for the help.

[IntEcon80]

you must a very strong and confident applicant because the set of schools you have chosen so far are very competitive.

[08Applicant]

Originally Posted by IntEcon80

you must a very strong and confident applicant because the set of schools you have chosen so far are very competitive.

I'm eager to add 5-6 safety schools. As for the eight schools I listed, one or two admits is what I'm hoping for. If three or more let me in I might have a stroke.

Abridged version of my profile:
3.79 university gpa (top 50 econ program)
econ/math major with all the calculus plus real analysis (LoR) and linear algebra
Wrote a senior thesis
780Q 590V
This year off working full-time as research assistant for former professor/LoR writer/MIT alum (econometrics)

[Stuy]

Some comments. With those interests I would look more closely to Northwestern. They are strong in theory (consider MEDS too), perhaps the best place to study IO in the world and have some of the best microeconometrists.

[commodore]

I agree with Stuy on Northwestern. I'd also suggest Yale, which is very strong in IO (but of course I'm biased).

[08Applicant]

Northwestern and Yale. Great choices, but this is going to be a very expensive year.

[YoungEconomist]

Originally Posted by Stuy

Some comments. With those interests I would look more closely to Northwestern. They are strong in theory (consider MEDS too), perhaps the best place to study IO in the world and have some of the best microeconometrists.

Northwestern is probably the school I would most like to go to. However, I doubt I'll have the profile for it. Is there any schools in the 30 - 50 range that are like Northwestern in that they're very strong in IO? What schools in the range of 30 - 50 are strongest at IO? In other words, is there a "poor man's" Northwestern? By "poor man," I don't literaly mean poor, but rather that I don't have an outstanding profile.