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MPP, sociologynerd, and Takeru, you have all been so helpful! Thank you very much for your advice! I asked my thesis advisor as well, and she concurs with all of you. She also mentioned that perhaps we should ask about the second school's offer and when it might be official, but then she said we could chat more about it tomorrow. I'll be meeting and having dinner with a POI from the second choice school this weekend at a conference, too, so we might be able to get some information from her, too! Takeru, that is a great idea! I have visited the campus before (one of the reasons it is my top choice), but I haven't met anyone there yet!

Hey all, I got an invitation to a recruitment weekend to a university (my 2nd choice) on Monday, and from what I hear, it's like an unofficial acceptance. They're inviting me and a handful of other candidates to visit the campus and meet the faculty for a weekend, all expenses paid. Later that same day, I received an email from my 1st choice's DGS saying that I had been accepted with a Teaching Assistantship, including tuition waiver and a generous stipend. I've been told by my advisor, family, friends, and current grad students to weigh my options and attend the recruitment day at my second choice. I do think that is a good idea. However, I inquired from my top choice about a deadline for a decision (only after expressing how thankful and honored I was by their acceptance and generous offer). They said there is no decision deadline except for "as soon as possible," and that the TAships are very precious (I definitely can see why!! So generous!), so they'd like to know ASAP so they can offer someone my TAship if I do not attend. Now, they did say that they would wait for my decision because they really want me to be the one to have the position. So I'm not rationally worried about the school revoking my funding if I don't make a decision lickety-split. So, my questions are as follows: 1. Is waiting until after March 4 (when my recruitment weekend ends) too long to make a decision, given that their "deadline" is ASAP rather than April 15? 2. Is giving this university a solid date (after March 4) an appropriate move, or should I just stick with "I'll give you my decision as soon as possible?"

Congratulations, SocGirl!! Celebrate!!!!!! I'm so happy for you!!!!! *more cookies, of course*

Congratulations, pinwheel!! *more confetti and gets cookies to give to you* Celebrate!!!! Hopeful, thank you so much for keeping me in the loop!! It is greatly appreciated!! My thesis advisor told me that I should send an email reply to the program I got accepted at with a TA offer/stipend and let them know that I'm still waiting to hear from other programs. Then the DGS of that school told me to let them know my decision as soon as I can. So then I sent an email telling them that I would, indeed, get back to them as soon as possible, and I asked if there is an official deadline for decisions so that I can ensure my decision reaches them in a timely manner. I wanted to phrase the email in a way that said "Is my 'soon as possible' soon enough for your 'soon as possible?'" instead of "I'm going to take my sweet time getting back to you!!"

I'll be at University of Delaware from March 2-4! I'm also just going to dress in business casual attire like Maleficent, <3Durkheim. For me, just a button down shirt (three colors of the same style from the same store), dress pants (one pair that I just will wear three times), and a shoe with a small heel (since my pants are too long to wear them with flats). That might be a good way to go!

Thank you for letting me know that, hopeful!! I'm sorry if it seemed like I was grilling you with questions!! You must feel so great now!! I'm so happy!! Congratulations, Walter!! Here, *offers some more cookies* have a cookie!! Or 2, or 10...

Did they happen to update the "check application status" page on your ASF yet? Just wondering whether to check the ASF as often as I have been ...

Thank you so much, Hopeful! That means a lot to me! =) Maybe they are doing them in waves; I sure hope so!! Pinoysoc, it looks like Hopeful received the notice via email judging from the Results page =)

Hopeful, I am so happy for you!! Congratulations! *throws some confetti and offers you some cookies*

Thank you so much! I truly am over the moon. I wait for the pang of anxiety over grad school to kick in, only now I can tell myself that I have a place to go! Maybe the same type of thing will happen to you! I certainly wasn't expecting to hear from schools with a January 15 and February 1 deadline so soon! I'm still waiting on the one with a January 4th deadline. It's officially gone in the opposite order of deadlines: Heard from Delaware, Lehigh, and Maryland will be last whenever they notify me one way or the other! @NoTransitory: Thank you so much!! It will truly be an honor if this is a perfect app season!! =) I hope all of us hear from more schools soon enough!

Oh that was just my input and instinct; I could be completely wrong! I only heard this from one person. It sounds like you asked more folks about it, so, OP, I'd listen to this post rather than mine!

My thesis advisor actually told me to be picky and "snobby" about rank. (That's hard for me to imagine because I'm just not a snobby person at all. So the most I could do was tell her I'd be picky haha.) Anyway, she backed up that advice with this: if schools want you badly enough, they will literally have a bidding war over you. When she got accepted to multiple schools, School A told her that they would match anything School B would give her (School A was Vanderbilt. I forget what School B was). So, hopefully if you get funding from the lower-ranked program, the higher ranked program will jump in and say "Not so fast! We could match that!" Another thing to take into account is fit. If you're accepted to a highly ranked school that isn't nearly as good a fit as the lower ranked one, I don't know if it would be worth it. I don't know how specific the areas of interest are in Public Policy, but in sociology, if I got accepted to a highly ranked demography program, I know it would not match well with my research interests in medical sociology. It also looks like you're located in Nebraska but are applying to schools in the UK. I'm not sure how the funding input above would apply to international schools. As you proposed before, rank might be even more salient since you are applying to international schools (if you plan on coming back to the US after you get your degree).

All of this advice is absolutely excellent!! Thank you all so much for your insight!!

Sorry, I still can't over the reality TV analogy!! Imagine if it really WERE like that!! I can imagine the narrator: "Previously on ExtremeSoc, tensions rose to epic levels when the grad applicants waded through a mud obstacle course for a chance to meet and talk to their POI on the other side. But after a devastating loss in the SOP 'write for your life' challenge, Bob was eliminated." I would totally watch that show! Either way, I'm so relieved it won't be like that during the recruitment weekend haha

oh gosh, that sounds heavenly!! Nothing better than a nap, and to top it off with an acceptance email? Wonderful! I might have thought I was dreaming if that happened to me! I was awake for a while when I got my acceptances yesterday, but I had to keep rubbing the bump on my head (I hit it on a table earlier in the day) to see if I felt pain to make sure it wasn't all a cruel dream (kind of like pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming) haha!

$40k. I console myself with the fact that that's how much ONE year of tuition and fees costs at a private school.

Thank you so much, Maleficent and Cylon6! Aww Justine, that does sound complicated!! I live about 5 minutes from downtown Harrisburg, PA, which has an Amtrak station, so I'm just going to Philly then Wilmington, so mine was pretty simple. Dr. Kupchik asked if I was within driving distance, and I had to sheepishly tell him I didn't drive, but he was so kind and said the train was definitely an option!! I'm so happy!!!

I just got another notification from a school! An acceptance with a Teaching Assistantship offer. I was sitting in the living room with my gran and mom when I got the email: Me: OH MY GOSH, I just got accepted to Lehigh with a teaching assistantship! Mom: Oh I knew you would be accepted, congratulations! Gran: What, does that have to do with the school that just called today? Me: No, it's another one!!! Then I ran around and screamed happily and made more phone calls to my boyfriend, thesis advisor, and best friend.

Claiming an acceptance to Lehigh University with a TA offer! Best Monday ever!!

OH that is so amazing!!! Congratulations!!! Oh I'm so glad you inquired further because I was just in too much shock to process what he was saying!! Yes, it's March 2-4! They already sent me my train ticket!!

Sociolite, thank you so much!! I hope they call you soon; you sound like a great candidate!! Thank you very much, Maleficent =))))

Unofficial acceptance, but here is my story: Drying hair today after a terrible morning. The cherry on top was me bashing my head into a corner of a table. So I finally get to dry my hair after putting some lunch in the microwave. Phone rings in my pocket. Area code says Newark, DE. I start freaking out inside. Director of graduate studies keeps saying how they were very impressed with my application and I can barely believe I'm not dreaming. Said they want to have me there for a weekend, all-expenses paid. Stop drying my hair, call my boyfriend, mom, best friend, sister, tell my gran who is upstairs. Lunch is still in microwave. It's ravioli. These are the raviolis of victory.

University of Delaware director of graduate studies called me ... they haven't made any final concrete decision but he said "I can't tell you enough how impressed we are with your application." So they're having me out there, all expenses paid, for a weekend (along with a handful of other applicants) to meet people and discuss life at UDel, etc ... so an unofficial acceptance?! EITHER WAY I AM FREAKING OUT WITH HAPPINESS!!!! Please excuse the caps lock!! Stats are in my signature!!

Yes, Meowth, University of Maryland was also in the "closed Friday/open Monday" boat! They sent out acceptances/rejections earlier than this time last year. If Boston U only sent out one acceptance, surely there's room for more?? I hope so!!

My second major during undergrad was philosophy, but I'm going to graduate school for sociology. So, I love keeping up with my philosophy friends and I frequent the philosophy forum here as well! It's a good thing there's tons of overlap between the two disciplines, too =)