You make a good point about the vague nature of my post. Generally speaking, at this juncture in my study (junior in undergrad) I'm most interested in motivation in cognition, the self, and attitudes. I have a year and a half before I graduate and decide what my main research interest is (even though it is subject to change as I continue to learn and grow). So, right now I'm just trying to get a feel for who's the cream of the crop, and who are the well respected programs in the context of the continual rise and fall of programs. Similarly, I'm interested in finding out who out of my list specified earlier is the cream of the crop. I appreciate everyone's comments thus far. It seems that Stanford, WashU, Michigan, British Columbia, and Oregon are elite programs. A follow-up question would be: besides Stanford, do any of the other programs listed clearly fall into an elite tier classification? Also, does anyone know where Kansas University and Indiana University fall in terms of prestige and quality of overall doctoral program training? As stated before, I will be checking with my advisor and a few faculty members in my department.