MidwesternAloha

How is it at their expense if they've already got it?
 
Wanting something at the expense of others is realizing that the process is competitive and someone will get screwed in the end no matter what you do.  Maybe they won't get screwed next time.
 
Or maybe you didn't get burnt enough.

Shut out of Ivies?  Oh please, I don't feel sorry for you.

Hi, I'm starting this fall at NCSU I've lived in Raleigh for two and a half years, so I have a little bit of knowledge of the area (especially the bus system -- get your gopass!).

Mine:
 
Best: Washington University in St. Louis (within 10 minutes, fixed a glitch and emailed me back, very nice)
Worst: Vanderbilt University (very nice before I applied and then just no response after applying - already know what that means)

If your top choice is higher ranked then it is unlikely that you will be able to leverage your other 2 offers.
 
You might try these threads: 




 
 
There are many others actually, so if your interested i just searched "negotiating"
 
Have fun!

Fashion can always be a hobby that you pursue on the side, while maintain a career that affords you the opportunity to do it. And if your fashion design takes off, you'll be able to balance practicality with what you love.

I worked on an undergrad student committee that brought George Takei to my campus (large state school). I met him and his husband Brad, awesome people!

Among other things, I'd say location might be significant because the two places are quite different. The weather is pretty much polar opposite, so if you don't want to deal with extremely harsh winters then Minnesota isn't ideal, but if you can appreciate having four seasons then Minnesota is a great place. I lived in the Twin Cities for many years (and went to the U of M for my undergrad), and I love the area a lot. There's a lot of good food around campus, and there's decent public transportation to different areas with even more to do.

No one should be pressured to make a decision hastily, but this is a good point. If you have multiple offers and know that there is a school or schools you don't want to attend, let them know sooner rather than later. Funding can often be on the line, too. Hanging onto multiple offers until the last, bitter hour of April 15th isn't fair to anyone. It actually can screw lower ranked schools out of taking full-sized recruitment classes, too. If you're waiting on your #1 program, hold onto #2, but maybe let the others go?

If your school doesn't post placement records, you can use google search to help you get an idea of where PhDs from your department wind up.
 
Enter this in the search bar:
 
 
For example, I was trying to find Sociology professors who got their degrees from UC Santa Cruz, so this is what I entered:
 
 
(Entering site:.edu makes sure only university pages come up in the results. Entering -site:ucsc.edu makes sure the results aren't bogged down with pages from UCSC.)
 
The results are faculty pages of Sociology professors with degrees from UCSC who are teaching at other universities.
 
Hope this is helpful to someone else!

None of this matters....you are in or not. 

As long as you are in and do good work, nobody cares if you were waitlisted or not.

Love that statement... :-)

Thanks guys, that's very encouraging! I wrote "I'm most definitely still interested" and something about being honored if I were accepted but the wait is unnerving because I'm so excited. Wait and see... I hope they don't make me wait the weekend.

I had an interview after I had already accepted to attend Emory, and I accepted in spite of this mostly because the school I was interviewing with after wasn't that highly ranked for me compared to Emory. I also clicked with the students as well as fellow interviewees really well at Emory, COL was going to be much lower in comparison, and funding is guaranteed.
 
A grad student in the lab I worked in during undergrad gave me really good advice when it comes to choosing schools: that science is science wherever you go, and you can do good science wherever (slightly exaggerated, especially if the school doesn't have funding or resources (people, equipment, etc) to let you do good science), but if you're stuck between a lab whose research you find very interesting and a lab you know you would get along with very well, she said she'd choose the people over the science. There are a lot of factors that go into choosing a grad school, but at the heart of it, I think it's just whether or not you're a good fit for the school and if the school fits well with you. Just perspective from someone who chose to accept to attend a program before finishing all her interviews

I met a guy who didn't get his rejection letter from one school til August of that year. What a mess.

Got a phone call from POI at USF-Moffitt Cancer Center... Stoked! Reality can set in now

If someone else decides that your new top choice is their bottom choice, you've got a shot. How exciting!

Should that be a factor? - for example, one school has students that generally go out together every weekend, whereas another is more independent and students generally do their own thing.

Got a phone call from POI at USF-Moffitt Cancer Center... Stoked! Reality can set in now

Got a phone call from POI at USF-Moffitt Cancer Center... Stoked! Reality can set in now

Got a phone call from POI at USF-Moffitt Cancer Center... Stoked! Reality can set in now

Mayo acceptance....  finally I can sleep! lol

It doesn't really matter how you think they might look at it. They almost always specifically state to submit transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended. If you leave one out, you could be kicked out later if they discovered it.