astreaux

In the same vein as TheGnome, I'll share that I rejected a funded offer from the University of Washington today. Since they appear to be admitting on a rolling basis, I hope that spot finds its way to someone who's still waiting.
 
Edit: IR

I can't believe I am saying this, but I'd prefer an (expected) bloodbath to silence. Chicago must be about ready to unleash its PhD rejections and MAPSS offers.

I was eating a bowl of really good cream-top yogurt dotted with firm, fresh blueberries. I felt like MFK Fisher, Alice Waters, or Ruth Reichl, savoring the perfect simplicity of it... the full, richness of the yogurt. The wild, tart burst of a large blueberry on my tongue.
 
My cell phone rang, and it was a number I didn't recognize. A number in Berkeley, CA. I remembered that in previous years, successful candidates reported that my dream program had notified them by phone. I spit a large mouthful of pretty nasty-looking yogurt, blueberry goo, and saliva straight back into the bowl and answered the phone.
 
It ruined my breakfast, but it was the best phone call of my life.

Economists will tell you that's the one where you'll always lose, unless you're a mechanic  

[First Name],
 
I am excited to attend your visit weekend. I have one quick question, however: Given how far I am coming from, the least expensive airfare that I've been able to find from X to Y is $Z. Does the department have any flexibility in their budget to help defer some of the difference? My budget is tight, but I would really love to make it on the [date]. 
 
Best regards,
 
[Your name]

Just a quick negotiating tip: If you ask in a respectful, professional way, there's not a lot of downside. They might have a firm policy, they might have wiggle room. If it is the former, they'll say it. No one will think less of you for asking the question, and you might be $200+ richer because of it. You won't be the only person to ask the person organizing these visit weekends for more money.

It's oh so quiet... it's oh so still...
 
So let's see. We're expecting (fingers crossed) Stanford, Yale, and Columbia this week. And didn't someone say that Chicago promises closure by the 18th?

/__________
/ deranged
\ applicant  _
  \

It's oh so quiet... it's oh so still...
 
So let's see. We're expecting (fingers crossed) Stanford, Yale, and Columbia this week. And didn't someone say that Chicago promises closure by the 18th?

A lot of international criminals live in San Diego. 

You bet your blue 'fro!

Anybody want to claim the Greendale Community College? Odd...I thought they usually notified in March...

I'm right there with you. I'm waiting on six more programs (including presumed rejections from Chicago and Duke), and I'd love more good news, but I'm very eager to have all answers in hand so that the March visits will have a sense of finality to them.

I just looked at academic calendars too. I'll add that Yale appears to be open for classes as well.

Not liking this whole three-day-weekend-in-the-middle-of-the-graduate-admissions-cycle thing. Not liking it at all.

I was eating a bowl of really good cream-top yogurt dotted with firm, fresh blueberries. I felt like MFK Fisher, Alice Waters, or Ruth Reichl, savoring the perfect simplicity of it... the full, richness of the yogurt. The wild, tart burst of a large blueberry on my tongue.
 
My cell phone rang, and it was a number I didn't recognize. A number in Berkeley, CA. I remembered that in previous years, successful candidates reported that my dream program had notified them by phone. I spit a large mouthful of pretty nasty-looking yogurt, blueberry goo, and saliva straight back into the bowl and answered the phone.
 
It ruined my breakfast, but it was the best phone call of my life.

In at Michigan!

OK, you got me. When I was on faculty at Harvard, we held regular pagan rituals in which babies were sacrificed on fiery altars, and the flames of those altars were fed  by the files of job applicants from non-top-10 departments.
 
My recommendation would be to take a look at job placements for just about any top department. I'm in the process of doing so at OSU, and our placements run the gamut from junior faculty at Harvard all the way to places you've never heard of. If our rank as a department or our connections with other faculty members were as determinative as you and others here and on PSR think they are, placement records for top departments would be far, far more consistent than they are.
 
Don't mistake certainty for truth. The truth is, there's a lot of noise, and anyone who tells you something different probably has either never been on this side of the process or has an axe to grind.

I completely agree that "lack of previous students" has a negative connotation. With that said, I would still like to try to incorporate that sentiment into my statement somehow. I feel that it lets the admissions committee know that I am familiar with Dr. Johnson and have a specific reason for picking him. I also feel that a statement along the lines of what you laid out is fairly generic and doesn't have that same specific "I know this professor well and know why he would be good for ME" feel to it. I do like the use of "accessibility" though. Maybe instead of "lack of previous students", I could say something like "fledgling lab"? I feel that that statement has less of a negative connotation. 
 
Or maybe you're right and I should just go with something similar to what you mentioned. Thoughts?
 
Edit: Thanks for the help by the way! I really appreciate it.

I heard from Northwestern too! Accepted for theory. Anticipating making a hard choice now. )

cute distraction: plot this in Google
 
plot sqrt(cos(x))cos(300x)+sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -4 to 4

Omg. Northwestern. Elated.

Relative anonymity is such a liberating thing.

Fingers crossed for a Vulcan bloodbath from Stanford instead. 

I was eating a bowl of really good cream-top yogurt dotted with firm, fresh blueberries. I felt like MFK Fisher, Alice Waters, or Ruth Reichl, savoring the perfect simplicity of it... the full, richness of the yogurt. The wild, tart burst of a large blueberry on my tongue.
 
My cell phone rang, and it was a number I didn't recognize. A number in Berkeley, CA. I remembered that in previous years, successful candidates reported that my dream program had notified them by phone. I spit a large mouthful of pretty nasty-looking yogurt, blueberry goo, and saliva straight back into the bowl and answered the phone.
 
It ruined my breakfast, but it was the best phone call of my life.