AWishinAndAHopin

I had been refreshing my email and checking my phone every 5 minutes that day because I knew that the committee was supposed to meet that morning. After being waitlisted at 4 other schools, I figured I should get out of the house, so I went to the store. After just arriving at the store, I noticed that I missed a phone call from someone in the area code of the school. I thought about leaving my grocery cart and running out to my car to return the phone call, but I tried to keep some control. I tried to return the call when I got home, but no answer. My POI didn't end up calling me back until the next day. This time, I had been waiting around all day, glued to my phone, but I had to take a shower. Of course, that is when I get a phone call. Luckily, I jumped out of the shower on time to hear the good news!

Congratulations on your acceptances! I agree with decclynn in all of the things they mentioned to consider. A flashy R1 school may sound good on a CV, but if you aren't happy with the faculty/ location/ general atmosphere, then you may regret choosing the R1 school. Don't be afraid to ask the students or your POIs more questions. Were you able to visit the schools in person?

I think when this happens, they might be trying to give you an opportunity to defend yourself. It may seem a little harsh for them to ask about an embarrassing GPA or GRE score, but it may help you in the end to give an honest explanation. If they invited you to interview, they can probably look past a low score.

That's awesome! Who are you interviewing with (if you're comfortable sharing and feel free to PM me)? Do you have any specific questions? I can ask one of my friends when I see her today. Congrats on the interview  

What is terrible was the rude behavior that graduate student displayed in front of you and everyone else.  If no one felt that he/she was out of line and changed the subject then perhaps that isn't the kind of environment you want to be in.  Plenty of applicants have no idea what their dissertation will be on and even if they do know that doesn't mean it's original, can get past IRB, or can be done in a reasonable amount of time.  I think knowing where your interests lie and what you want to explore next is a good start and you want to be in a program that sees that potential in you to do more with the training they can offer you.

I'm seconding MarineBluePsy. AWishinAndAHopin, I'm so sorry that happened to you! The grad student's behavior (both in your conversation and with other faculty/grads at the party) is absurd, and if it's any indication of the culture in that department/program, you definitely dodged a bullet.
And to answer question, no, you absolutely should *not* know exactly what your dissertation will be on at this point. Having a clear set of interests and some concrete ideas for future directions is important, but much of the *point* of grad school is to deepen and expand you interests as you go forward, gain experience, and work with a wider range of people. If all goes well, what your dissertation ultimately ends up looking like will be *quite* different (in wonderful ways!) from what you would currently predict.