Ahtlatl

"THIS JUST IN: HARVARD YALE AND PRINCETON ARE GREAT NAMES FOR [FIELD]!" 

––every US News ranking list ever.

If I were you, I'd go to Rutgers. You already have firm relationships established at UCLA, so going to Rutgers would give you the opportunity to broaden your network (plus you'll also be close to New York and the universities there, too) and to develop a stronger connection to someone who is the top expert in your field. Just my two cents, for whatever that's worth! 

Like I said, a person in the history dept. told me that all fields made all of their decisions as of last Friday. No word on whether  acceptance letters have been sent out (still waiting for my official letter), I only got an informal phone call. My POI said that they still needed to go through some more hoops to make it 100% official, but he wanted to let me know that as long as nothing weird came up, I would be in. As I said previously, my POI and I talk frequently, he's my mentor/thesis advisor, so that's probably why he gave me the inside word on my acceptance. Another person here said that they were notified about being waitlisted by their POI at UCLA who is also their thesis advisor. So I think that the only people who have been informed are those who are in regular contact at UCLA with their POIs. My guess is that they still have to get more paperwork and other bureaucratic stuff done first, and then whenever that's done, all of the letters will be sent out, hopefully this week! Only way of knowing right now is through your POI if they are willing to be forthcoming with that info. 

Ok, so a guy on the inside at UCLA told me that last Friday the history dept did indeed make all of their decisions for new students in all fields. No word on whether they already sent out all the acceptances though. My POI notified me the day after. He had my number and he was already my MA thesis advisor. If that weren't the case, then he might not have let me know so soon, so unless you already know two people in your field that have been accepted into UCLA then there is still hope! Though IIRC he told me I was the only Latin American history admit, so if you work on Latin American history then you're probably not getting in, sorry, but never say never, I may choose another school. PSU is looking pretty tempting after talking to the head of the dept there today.  

I got a phone call from my POI at UCLA this weekend (Saturday, Feb 6th to be exact). He said that there were two other professors in the same field (Latin America) who also had students that they wanted to bring to UCLA, but I was the one ultimately chosen. IIRC, admissions at UCLA are based on geographic field, not period, with one student admitted each year for Latin American history. So, sorry to say this, but I think that if you are doing Latin American history, regardless of the period you focus on, you're probably going to be rejected or waitlisted. I am most likely going to choose UCLA, but I'm still waiting to hear back from Rutgers and Columbia (long shot).