A blighted one

EVERYTHING

Yup, it just depends on the program. I wish I was hearing back already, but, alas, I have at least another month to wait. We must be patient!

I've definitely spent a lot of time browsing the City Guide, here. Can't imagine bible belt-->Boulder, must have been a shock! This is what I assumed. I'll probably try to get a feel for the universities I applied for as best I can via internet research, but will do some more serious investigation if I have real prospects down the road. Thanks for your input! I'll have to do some university googling, I guess.

Hi all, Because I'm currently obsessing about my (uncertain) future, I've been thinking about politics at my possible future schools. I don't mean departmental politics, but rather the political leanings of both faculty and students. I'm from California, have interests in both feminism and Marxism, and over all would say I lean quite far to the left. It has recently dawned on me that I may be spending the next few years of my life immersed in a community that holds radically different views/values than my own. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I would prefer to attend a less conservative school so as to be able to engage fully with my political and academic interests. Maybe I'm overreacting here, and honestly, I'm not freaking out over it or anything. A friend of mine recently told me that one of the schools I applied for was very conservative, which came as a shock. I guess I figured that most research universities these days were fairly liberal. I have found myself questioning some of the Jesuit universities I recently applied for. I guess my question is: is this a real concern? Does anyone know of any resources for finding out more information about the overall politics of certain universities?

Oregon or Ohio? Edit: Just noticed you're applying for a PhD, so I'm guessing that's Ohio State then, correct? Sorry, I originally responded thinking you meant Oregon State (as I just applied for their funded MA). Good luck, the waiting it brutal sometimes!

I didn't listen to your advice, but I just did this as well but it had the opposite effect! I didn't apply for many terribly competitive MA programs though.

Same boat. I've finished submitting all of my applications at this point. The absolute earliest (based on the results board) I'll hear from one school is Feb. 1 (which would be amazing) but I'll be waiting it out until late March, I expect! The wait has been torturous, which I wasn't expecting, actually. So far, outside of work I am occupying myself with time-squandering internet browsing (a lot of Gradcafe lurking), less reading than I'd like, and trying to exercise more. I told myself that when I finished all of my applications I'd quit smoking. I have thus far been successful but have realized that the midst of a waiting game was an awful time to decide to quit.

@cloverhinge These are all great questions, but I'm in the same position as you and hence have no answers. Thanks to everyone else for the insights!