lovethequestions

In terms of publication--I have actually gotten the opposite advice on two separate occasions from professors (that is, they suggested I be cautious about publication). Their reasoning was that, whereas with conference presentations, if it goes poorly, it's over, when you've published an article, it will never go away. So if you have a less-than-mature scholarly perspective (as I know I still do) or even flat-out errors, those will count against you in your future career. Their advice was, present away; but be very cautious about what you seek to publish.

At a party this weekend, the students in my program discussed precisely this phenomenon (preponderance of beardage among grad student men). We determined that most, but not all men can carry them off, and came up with the following rules for growing a beard.
1) It has to be groomed (no Tolstoy beards).
2) It has to grow in evenly (no patchy beards, sorry).
3) It has to not make you look like a complete tool. (This one, I admit, is slightly more subjective. But I'm sure you can all picture the beards I mean.)

On the other hand, I recently moved to the Midwest from the South. And if I were a dude, I think I would grow a beard regardless of whether I could pull it off or not, just to have the extra layer of insulation in the winter...

First, congratulations! Second, there's a reason the schools have all entered a binding agreement not to require you to make a decision before April 15. It's true that it sucks for them and for the unlucky person at the top of the wait list if there's no time to negotiate with someone else, but you absolutely have the right to take the time to make the right decision.

That being said, one option to (hopefully) make everyone happy is to be very aggressive with researching the school in the meantime--talk to or email with all the professors you'd be working with, ask if they have current and/or former students you can talk to, etc. Even if you don't get a chance to actually see the campus, you might well find out something that will help the decision along.

But I still think you should not feel guilty about taking your time, if in fact you just can't decide before you visit. You have to be your own advocate. Good luck!