heyitsthatguy

My opinion is that these sorts of rankings should rank relatively low on your list of why you want to attend a program. It is only part of a very complex picture, and there is a lot of debate over which ranking system is most reliable.
 
What are your interests? Are there professors in the program who publish widely/are cited widely in that area? Will you have opportunities to actually work with them? Do they have ongoing funded research projects?
 
At the end of the day, you could attend a low-ranking program with all-star faculty in your sub area and do well, or you could attend a highly ranked uni with not as good of a fit and less available profs and do not so well.
 
TL;DR: Fit > Ranking

FYI - I was accepted to SUNY Albany today (that's me in the results search) and declined the offer, in case anyone is holding out on them, good luck! Several really great faculty there.
 
I will also be declining my offer to Penn State soon, so again, best of luck to those interested!

My opinion is that these sorts of rankings should rank relatively low on your list of why you want to attend a program. It is only part of a very complex picture, and there is a lot of debate over which ranking system is most reliable.
 
What are your interests? Are there professors in the program who publish widely/are cited widely in that area? Will you have opportunities to actually work with them? Do they have ongoing funded research projects?
 
At the end of the day, you could attend a low-ranking program with all-star faculty in your sub area and do well, or you could attend a highly ranked uni with not as good of a fit and less available profs and do not so well.
 
TL;DR: Fit > Ranking

Hi, there is a link at the top of the search page to "submit your results."

I haven't posted these in the results search, as it seems rather inactive for crim/CJ programs but I also got the call from UC Irvine with an acceptance! I also got into the CJ program at Rutgers-Newark. Did anyone else get in there, and if so, will you be attending the visitiation weekend this month?

Looks like I will be meeting you at Irvine! I was also accepted at Rutgers. Also applying to UMSL. Decent chance we might end up in the same cohort, haha. Best of luck!

Everyone has had good things to say. I agree with the idea of taking a year off, especially if you are not in an ideal "mental state." I'm an older student and I feel my work has been made better both because I took years off to travel and live in the real world (though I disagree with the suggestion of getting a soul crushing job, take time to do what you want), and because when I went back to school I had a better idea of what I wanted to do and could fully commit myself to it.
 
That said, my interest is also in urban sociology/demography. I would suggest getting a subscription to journals like City & Community, finding researchers whose work interests you and digging into it more. Another good starting point is Rob Sampson's latest book "The Great American City" which is a great read and some of the hottest stuff in the field right now. A word to ease your mind though - many people who find satisfaction in very successful careers later on in life had periods of uncertainty and hesitation, many of them changed fields, so do what feels right.

Ugh, yeah every program has had an "unusually competitive year." I suspect that every year, every program claims an unusually competitive year.  While some programs have been gracious and to the point about rejections when I've inquired about them, some seem so afraid to hurt an applicant's feelings that they beat around the bush.
 
I contacted a program which I thought was an easy in as they are ranked lower than the other schools I got into, and the DGS said they had made their decision, my name was on the list of applicants (um, of course it was), and that there was no way to be certain if I were admitted or not but because there were over 80 applicants (way fewer than the programs I got into which had 300+), and I should assume I didn't get admitted. Would have appreciated a straightforward answer along the lines of "we aren't offering you admission."

I know you are allowed to defer payments while in school, and a PhD program should qualify. If not, there are a lot of other ways to defer - economic hardship being the principal one I've used while out of school. 
 
On a completely different note, I'm wondering if anyone can offer some insight to the question I might be facing. Save for a chance at being pulled off the waitlist (which I feel I have a shot at), at a high ranked program, my options seem to be limited to a fairly low ranked PhD program and the MA program at my current university, ranked fairly low (50's I think) overall but high (20s) in "productivity."
 
I'm pushing 30 and would rather go straight to the PhD program but here is my question - would it be better for my career down the road to stick with an MA program where I know I'll have lots of faculty support and am confident I can get at least a couple journal publications under my belt, with the hope of getting into a high ranking program afterwards, or just work hard in the lower ranked PhD program and see what I can make of it?
 
Any applicants with MAs wanna take a stab at this?

Yes, the lone JHU acceptance on the results search page gave me hope that they didn't do acceptances in bulk. JHU was my 'dream program.' A tiny part deep inside of me still hopes someone declines their offer and I'm on that magical unofficial waitlist.