Deadmeat

Can I change my answer to this? lol!

Top 5 for what ranking criteria? There are plenty of ways to rank schools other than US News... Hell how they rank programs is kinda crazy to me (100% peer reviewed score for the major?!?!). 
 
I would use those as 'ballpark' ranking. I'm basing this on Mechanical Engineering which ranks over 150 programs, so anything that is ranked in the top 20 to me felt pretty similar in terms of respect in the field. I even asked professor's at my current school and they said "yah, if you do good work in any of those programs you will get noticed"
 
I think it is a little trickier if you are debating a top 10 programs vs something ranked like 40th. So you should be fine, plus you will be a happier student going where you wanted to go!

Hey,
 
I went through this with a program I wanted to go too. My situation may be different though since during the visit they said our offers were the bare min. and better offers may come, though no guaranteed. 
 
I just emailed the graduate coordinator who signed my original letter and said basically "I'm strongly considering your program, but financial considerations are always a concern as I have received multi year/additional fellowship offers from other programs." or something to that effect. I didn't tell them specifics of what the program was or send them proof, I think that's a little heavy handed. They will get the gist of your email in just two sentences. 
 
Few weeks later I have a 1st year fellowship added, and now my offer is 3 years instead of 1 year (including summers where my original offer didn't include the summer). I did have some bargaining room since I'm starting a Ph.D. with a MS degree already, so I used that for leverage since all the other students I spoke with were senior undergraduates applying. I also asked another program and they basically said there offer was final.
 
Nobody is going to take an offer back by politely asking for more. Good advice I got after undergrad from a professor, ALWAYS ask for more money, benefits, time off or something with a job. My first job out of college I just said frankly "I'd like 10% more", they ended up giving me 5% but it never hurts to ask. Every time I got a review for any job and they gave me a raise I always asked for a bit more, most of the time it didn't work but when it did sure felt good. I applied that mindset to graduate school and I think some people appreciate being assertive and bold.

Hey,
 
I went through this with a program I wanted to go too. My situation may be different though since during the visit they said our offers were the bare min. and better offers may come, though no guaranteed. 
 
I just emailed the graduate coordinator who signed my original letter and said basically "I'm strongly considering your program, but financial considerations are always a concern as I have received multi year/additional fellowship offers from other programs." or something to that effect. I didn't tell them specifics of what the program was or send them proof, I think that's a little heavy handed. They will get the gist of your email in just two sentences. 
 
Few weeks later I have a 1st year fellowship added, and now my offer is 3 years instead of 1 year (including summers where my original offer didn't include the summer). I did have some bargaining room since I'm starting a Ph.D. with a MS degree already, so I used that for leverage since all the other students I spoke with were senior undergraduates applying. I also asked another program and they basically said there offer was final.
 
Nobody is going to take an offer back by politely asking for more. Good advice I got after undergrad from a professor, ALWAYS ask for more money, benefits, time off or something with a job. My first job out of college I just said frankly "I'd like 10% more", they ended up giving me 5% but it never hurts to ask. Every time I got a review for any job and they gave me a raise I always asked for a bit more, most of the time it didn't work but when it did sure felt good. I applied that mindset to graduate school and I think some people appreciate being assertive and bold.

I got an offer in Engineering from a Big Ten school. They are offering ~ 27,000 year (that includes summer research work) and paying 80% of the health insurance. This was as far as I can tell higher than the majority of the university  but normal for the department (I.E. not a fellowship). The cost of living in the area is about average, but housing is a bit pricier than some places. It's similar to my cost of living in NJ actually, minus the insane car insurance and property tax (a non issue).

the whole notion of pride for one's university is completely foreign and silly to me.

You never heard about anyone from UMichigan, Ohio State, Penn State, UC Berkley, UCLA, UMinnessota, or UWashington being recognized for there work?!? I'm sure I missed some schools in there, but some of best programs and the best work in the country comes from state schools. Some of these schools are in the top 10 of research funding (Michigan, Penn State, Minessota come to mind). 
 
To the original poster: 30 isn't THAT old, I'm 29 and just finishing up my master's degree. If you want to be a top school and don't have the background. One suggestion would be get a Master's at a "lower ranked" school then use that a springboard into a top program. Keeping in mind you should produce papers, conference work, and have a stellar graduate GPA, but I'm sure you can do it! I went to an almost nonexistent graduate program after having a pretty bad under grad GPA (by Grad cafe standardrs) of 2.88. Though I have done very well in my Master's program and I have been offered admission with funding to 2 programs in the top 15 of my field.
 
Just an idea to think about!

Thought I'd share this great TED talk while we all wait on decisions about how we make our own happiness and how in fact when given a lack of chose we often end up happier with our decision.
 
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html
 
I actually thought back about some recent small and major decisions and honestly this talk really made lot of sense with what I ended up being happy with. Very interesting stuff!

Thought I'd share this great TED talk while we all wait on decisions about how we make our own happiness and how in fact when given a lack of chose we often end up happier with our decision.
 
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html
 
I actually thought back about some recent small and major decisions and honestly this talk really made lot of sense with what I ended up being happy with. Very interesting stuff!

Thought I'd share this great TED talk while we all wait on decisions about how we make our own happiness and how in fact when given a lack of chose we often end up happier with our decision.
 
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html
 
I actually thought back about some recent small and major decisions and honestly this talk really made lot of sense with what I ended up being happy with. Very interesting stuff!

Highly doubt you will be rejected in all 7 places! Just think positive and you will be ok. I think this whole thing isn't that stressful, it's sorta just like dating. Be yourself, give it your best shot, and if they say no to you... well then IT IS THEIR LOSS! Someone out there will want you, don't worry about it.
 
In the meantime have a Cookie, they make everyone happy.

Highly doubt you will be rejected in all 7 places! Just think positive and you will be ok. I think this whole thing isn't that stressful, it's sorta just like dating. Be yourself, give it your best shot, and if they say no to you... well then IT IS THEIR LOSS! Someone out there will want you, don't worry about it.
 
In the meantime have a Cookie, they make everyone happy.

Highly doubt you will be rejected in all 7 places! Just think positive and you will be ok. I think this whole thing isn't that stressful, it's sorta just like dating. Be yourself, give it your best shot, and if they say no to you... well then IT IS THEIR LOSS! Someone out there will want you, don't worry about it.
 
In the meantime have a Cookie, they make everyone happy.