reixis

For what it's worth, my GRE was slightly higher than yours (152Q/154V/4.0) and I did apply to six schools in the US (Harvard, MIT, Cornell, UPenn, UConn, U. of Miami) out of undergrad from an obscure non-English speaking university. I was initially wait-listed at UPenn, UConn, and Miami and rejected at Harvard, MIT, and Cornell. I got an offer out of the waitlist from UPenn (I withdrew myself from UConn and Miami lists), but for particular reasons decided to go to a place outside the US.
I think that the most important factors are having a good sample and being a good fit to the program that you are applying to. If you can get letters from American professors, that might help you as well. I would also strongly advise to look not only for good fit in terms of your research interests, but also for programs with a good graduate and staff community. This might make a big difference in the long run.
Hope this helps!

For what it's worth, my GRE was slightly higher than yours (152Q/154V/4.0) and I did apply to six schools in the US (Harvard, MIT, Cornell, UPenn, UConn, U. of Miami) out of undergrad from an obscure non-English speaking university. I was initially wait-listed at UPenn, UConn, and Miami and rejected at Harvard, MIT, and Cornell. I got an offer out of the waitlist from UPenn (I withdrew myself from UConn and Miami lists), but for particular reasons decided to go to a place outside the US.
I think that the most important factors are having a good sample and being a good fit to the program that you are applying to. If you can get letters from American professors, that might help you as well. I would also strongly advise to look not only for good fit in terms of your research interests, but also for programs with a good graduate and staff community. This might make a big difference in the long run.
Hope this helps!

For what it's worth, my GRE was slightly higher than yours (152Q/154V/4.0) and I did apply to six schools in the US (Harvard, MIT, Cornell, UPenn, UConn, U. of Miami) out of undergrad from an obscure non-English speaking university. I was initially wait-listed at UPenn, UConn, and Miami and rejected at Harvard, MIT, and Cornell. I got an offer out of the waitlist from UPenn (I withdrew myself from UConn and Miami lists), but for particular reasons decided to go to a place outside the US.
I think that the most important factors are having a good sample and being a good fit to the program that you are applying to. If you can get letters from American professors, that might help you as well. I would also strongly advise to look not only for good fit in terms of your research interests, but also for programs with a good graduate and staff community. This might make a big difference in the long run.
Hope this helps!

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just received an e-mail from the DGS at Penn telling me that I was next on the list for an offer. I told him that I accepted an offer elsewhere. Hopefully this will turn out to be an offer for someone else!

I just received an e-mail from the DGS at Penn telling me that I was next on the list for an offer. I told him that I accepted an offer elsewhere. Hopefully this will turn out to be an offer for someone else!

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

Good luck friend!!

Good luck, and congrats! NZ sounds great, and has some great people (Zach Weber is a fantastic logician at Otago who is incredibly nice).

Congratulations!!! That sounds like it will be a great experience!!

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

I just accepted Otago's offer. I will be moving to New Zealand next semester!
 
I received a pretty good scholarship offer ($25,000, non taxable) annually, plus tutor opportunities that amount to approximately $6,000 each year. It's a research only degree (similar to the UK) and the offer is for three years and a half. I know the department is not ranked, but I have heard a lot of good things about them and I will have the opportunity to work with a leading figure in my area of interest who happens to teach in NZ (though not at Otago). Anyway, after carefully balancing my professional interests and my personal interests, I decided I would give it a shot.
 
I will withdrawn my name from the places I'm waitlisted. I hope this helps someone. Also, best of luck for everyone and thank you for making this place such a friendly environment. If anyone is ever coming to NZ and needs a place to stay, feel free to shoot me a message. 

To the earlier conversation: I decided to go with the unranked PhD. I applied to the school not as a backup, but because of the specific faculty. For a while I was persuaded against it for "practical" reasons, but in the end, sometimes the most practical considerations are not just statistical job placements and data analysis from Leiter et al. Sometimes the most practical thing is to ensure personal growth, because so long as education and genuine attempts toward wisdom are disregarded in favor of scholarly trends and financial considerations, we can't say that we're doing philosophy. Many thanks to the earlier posters who kept this in mind! It was comforting to hear, what with all the other "practical" (read: prestige) concerns owing to application stress weighing down on me. This whole process is crazier than I expected!

I posted this elsewhere but it seems more relevant here, so I'll re-post: 
 
For what it's worth, I declined Vanderbilt through emails with the DGS back in mid-March, but I only received an official (electronic) offer letter from the grad school yesterday, which gave me the option of clicking 'attending' or 'not attending' (I clicked the 'not attending button'). It doesn't seem to me that Departments can dig into the wait list before this process actually took place, even though they've known since mid-March that I wasn't going to accept. After all, I was given the option to click 'attending', and if I really did that, they would be in a mess if they had already sent out an acceptance to another person. 
 
What I'm trying to say is, maybe some wait list movement is still around the corner; perhaps some departments were waiting for the admin process at the grad school to get cleared up. Best of luck to everyone!!

As I believe many of us will have our futures defined this week, I would like to wish the best of luck for all of us still waiting! It's been a very stressful couple of months, but it certainly helped to have this place to talk about the process.