emeliano

Well, they all sound like decent offers.  I guess I'd take into consideration the climate you'd be moving to.  Florida is warm most of the year, but also humid since it is essentially a peninsula in the ocean.  Iowa is a four season state, so it's cold in the winter, about 90s in the summer and somewhat humid, spring and fall are warm, sometimes rainy, etc.  Michigan is north of Iowa and surrounded by lakes, so winters are really cold and have heavy lake effect snow.  Texas is hot in the summer and dry unless you live along the coast.  Winters are mild in Texas unless you get a freak winter, but even then it is usually rain and not snow.  Akron, Ohio is probably subjected to Lake effect snow as well and would have similar weather to Iowa on a yearly basis.  Don't know if this helps your choices at all.  But if I had to move somewhere for the next 5 years, I'd definitely take the climate into consideration.
 
As an alumni of ISU, I can say that Ames is a nice place to live in general.  Good bus system, nice people, moderate shopping, not a super hopping nightlife, but some decent bars and a movie theater.  Des Moines has more clubs and such and it's only 45 minutes to downtown Des Moines, so that is pretty doable.  I enjoy having 4 distinct seasons (5 if you count Road construction as a season), so I didn't enjoy Texas as much as some people.  Anyway, hope I helped a little.  Good luck on your decision making!

I received the acceptance email from the Chemistry Graduate Admissions office at Iowa State University about 4 hours after the the interview on phone!

I believe these rankings are based on surveys from people in the field, so you should take them with a grain of salt for that reason alone.
 
But ultimately, what most matters is the professor you work for. Think about it; there are outstanding profs at universities that are ranked lower who may be just as impactful or more as profs at top 5 universities despite being at a smaller or lower impact school. But your PI is the one funding your research, publishing your papers, and writing your recommendation for a post-doc.
 
You should find out the funding and publication records of particular professors you are interested in. That information is far more important than school ranking.

Yesssssssssssss! Another acceptance! University of.......(wait for it!).......Florida! Yes! University of Florida :D

Yesssssssssssss! Another acceptance! University of.......(wait for it!).......Florida! Yes! University of Florida :D

Yesssssssssssss! Another acceptance! University of.......(wait for it!).......Florida! Yes! University of Florida :D

That is a really tough call. I'm not on an admissions committee, so take this with a grain of salt.

Your research experience, awards, and publications are obviously phenomenal. However, I know many schools have minimum GRE scores. If you contacted POIs or the admissions committee and explained your scores in light of your out of class experiences I think you would have a strong case at all of your listed schools.

Hi. Wow you applied to a lot of places. I think UAkron and Texas Tech are comparable...neither of them are very big names here overall though. I'm not sure if it is really true that they are a world leader in polymer research...I looked at the Wikipedia page for UAkron and their reference in making that statement was this:
 
http://www.uakron.edu/cpspe/
 
LOL. So of course the school would say something good about themselves. I think it is best if you look at the profiles of the chem faculty members in a certain department to assess how strong the chemistry program is rather than reading Wikipedia (someone who goes to that school could just randomly update Wikipedia and say good things haha!)
 
From the schools you applied to on your list, I think the best choices would be Purdue, UFlorida, URochester, Colorado State... or maybe Stony Brook and Iowa State. At least, those are chem departments I hear of more frequently that I know to be stronger. It also depends what you're looking to study of course...but because your credentials are really strong, I think you have a great chance at getting into any of those schools!
 
Good luck with your apps!