BigTenPoliSci

I should have been more clear. You won't get a bigger stipend - those are usually fixed based on your type of appointment. But you might change a two year TA guarantee into a four year TA guarantee. Or you might bump a four year TA deal to a first year fellowship plus a four year TA.
 
Absolutely play one program against another. A couple people here have especially nice deals because they used the leverage. If Illinois offers you a four year TA package and Minnesota offers you your first two years of fellowship and next two of TA, tell the Director of Graduate Studies at Illinois that Minnesota gave you this better offer. Sometimes the DGS will be able to match it. The worst that can happen is that they do nothing. On the other hand, I wouldn't recommend bluffing. Dishonesty is an especially bad way to start a graduate career. 
 
It's not about playing "hardball" or even being all that strategic. Just be honest and direct about what your options are.

My beef with visitation is mostly the evasive discussions of placement. I was accepted at 2 places. I visited both. Both programs that otherwise have a very quantitative focus (particularly in my subfield - American) suddenly became very qualitative when the topic of placement came up. Anecdotes of great placements are quickly recalled, but no one mentions the other great students that didn't get any offers and are now on their second post-doc.
 
The reality when you are in a program like this one (upper teens / low twenties in the rankings) is that about two thirds of a cohort will defend dissertations. Of those, about half will find tenure track jobs. Most importantly, it varies quite a bit by subfield and by advisor. When you visit, ask specific questions about subfield placement. "How many Americanists were on the market last year? How many placed and where?" You might have a very good idea of who your advisor might be. Ask her about her placement record. "Who was your most recent student to finish? Where did he go?"
 
When you are visiting you are in the driver's seat. Ask for more money. Ask for a longer guarantee. Unless you set fire to the building during your visit they won't rescind the admissions offer. After the admission offer and before you accept is the only time for the next six years that you are in the dominant position.

My beef with visitation is mostly the evasive discussions of placement. I was accepted at 2 places. I visited both. Both programs that otherwise have a very quantitative focus (particularly in my subfield - American) suddenly became very qualitative when the topic of placement came up. Anecdotes of great placements are quickly recalled, but no one mentions the other great students that didn't get any offers and are now on their second post-doc.
 
The reality when you are in a program like this one (upper teens / low twenties in the rankings) is that about two thirds of a cohort will defend dissertations. Of those, about half will find tenure track jobs. Most importantly, it varies quite a bit by subfield and by advisor. When you visit, ask specific questions about subfield placement. "How many Americanists were on the market last year? How many placed and where?" You might have a very good idea of who your advisor might be. Ask her about her placement record. "Who was your most recent student to finish? Where did he go?"
 
When you are visiting you are in the driver's seat. Ask for more money. Ask for a longer guarantee. Unless you set fire to the building during your visit they won't rescind the admissions offer. After the admission offer and before you accept is the only time for the next six years that you are in the dominant position.

My beef with visitation is mostly the evasive discussions of placement. I was accepted at 2 places. I visited both. Both programs that otherwise have a very quantitative focus (particularly in my subfield - American) suddenly became very qualitative when the topic of placement came up. Anecdotes of great placements are quickly recalled, but no one mentions the other great students that didn't get any offers and are now on their second post-doc.
 
The reality when you are in a program like this one (upper teens / low twenties in the rankings) is that about two thirds of a cohort will defend dissertations. Of those, about half will find tenure track jobs. Most importantly, it varies quite a bit by subfield and by advisor. When you visit, ask specific questions about subfield placement. "How many Americanists were on the market last year? How many placed and where?" You might have a very good idea of who your advisor might be. Ask her about her placement record. "Who was your most recent student to finish? Where did he go?"
 
When you are visiting you are in the driver's seat. Ask for more money. Ask for a longer guarantee. Unless you set fire to the building during your visit they won't rescind the admissions offer. After the admission offer and before you accept is the only time for the next six years that you are in the dominant position.

PSR is useful to pick up some info when the job market first heats up in the fall and when offers start going out around now. Otherwise, it's mostly a place for graduate students to say horrible things. I suspect that the whole board might be just the same 15 people talking to each other over and over.
 
Ohio State's recent stumbles have opened up the conference this year. I am a fan of college basketball and I attend a lot of my school's games (rooting against schools that rejected you is fun). Most grad students don't take advantage of student tickets and that's a shame. It's a great perk to being at a school like this. This is going to be a season where everyone beats up on each other in this conference and people might be surprised to see a bunch of 6-seed Big Ten teams going deep in the tournament.
 
Just to be clear, I don't want to tip my hand on where I go in the unlikely event that I end up saying something unflattering about my program (and I have some strong feelings about what programs don't tell you during visitation weekends and when they are recruiting students in general). It's not all sunshine and roses in graduate school, but if I knew then what I know now I would still apply. The reason I am back on this board is that a friend in in this application cycle. He asked me if he should try for grad school and after thinking about it carefully I told him he should take a shot.

The short answer is yes, you are in the kiddie pool, but that's okay. PSR isn't the deep end - it's a neglected jacuzzi with algae in it.

PSR is useful to pick up some info when the job market first heats up in the fall and when offers start going out around now. Otherwise, it's mostly a place for graduate students to say horrible things. I suspect that the whole board might be just the same 15 people talking to each other over and over.
 
Ohio State's recent stumbles have opened up the conference this year. I am a fan of college basketball and I attend a lot of my school's games (rooting against schools that rejected you is fun). Most grad students don't take advantage of student tickets and that's a shame. It's a great perk to being at a school like this. This is going to be a season where everyone beats up on each other in this conference and people might be surprised to see a bunch of 6-seed Big Ten teams going deep in the tournament.
 
Just to be clear, I don't want to tip my hand on where I go in the unlikely event that I end up saying something unflattering about my program (and I have some strong feelings about what programs don't tell you during visitation weekends and when they are recruiting students in general). It's not all sunshine and roses in graduate school, but if I knew then what I know now I would still apply. The reason I am back on this board is that a friend in in this application cycle. He asked me if he should try for grad school and after thinking about it carefully I told him he should take a shot.

The short answer is yes, you are in the kiddie pool, but that's okay. PSR isn't the deep end - it's a neglected jacuzzi with algae in it.

Any reasonable expectation besides professionalism and common courtesy, you mean. * Climbs on soapbox * I've noticed a permissiveness towards unresponsiveness in academia that I don't think would fly in a lot of other jobs. Sure, people are busy and all that...but so is everyone. A quick: "Thanks for reaching out, it is my policy not to speak with applicants until after decisions are made. Best of luck, X" or "Thanks for reaching out, I look forward to working with you--I'll be in touch in the upcoming months as the 2014 fall term nears. Best, X" doesn't take THAT long. But oh well, different professions have different norms--and there are certainly awesome professors who are just the worst at emails. *Departs soapbox *
 
I wouldn't take the lack of response as anything other than an insight into the POI's working style--not a reflection on you. At the end of the day its just a little more information to plug into your decision-making process.

I would caution people that most Big 10 schools have much lower stipends than these (in the range of $13K to $18K). Midwestern schools also have much lower costs of living, but it can still be a challenge to make ends meet.