Monody

Ive to say re-reading an SOP feels somewhat like re-reading some sort of love letter you wrote as a child. Over the top and quite embarrassing in hindsight.

I think you should go to whichever place has better placement in your subfield. Presuming that both programs offer full funding, it seems to me that 5-7 years of living modestly is worth it for better job prospects.

Claiming a Syracuse admission! 

Ive to say re-reading an SOP feels somewhat like re-reading some sort of love letter you wrote as a child. Over the top and quite embarrassing in hindsight.

Ive to say re-reading an SOP feels somewhat like re-reading some sort of love letter you wrote as a child. Over the top and quite embarrassing in hindsight.

Ive to say re-reading an SOP feels somewhat like re-reading some sort of love letter you wrote as a child. Over the top and quite embarrassing in hindsight.

Ive to say re-reading an SOP feels somewhat like re-reading some sort of love letter you wrote as a child. Over the top and quite embarrassing in hindsight.

Claiming an official admission offer from UC Irvine! Oh it's a relief!

I was in this boat last year actually (deciding between Princeton, UPenn, GWU and WashU). I think my perspective was a little different since I was less concerned with the overall ranking of the department/program, and far more concerned with the individual people I would be working with. My closest mentors said the decision was crystal clear, an absolute no contest but for me it wasn't immediately evident because GWU had amazing people I could work with, and their placement record in recent years has been fantastic. I also go along extremely well with everyone I met, as well as the graduate students. I also really loved DC. 
I was torn, because I wanted to go somewhere where I could write the best dissertation, and that stemmed first and foremost from mentorship. I asked every professor I met with, no matter the institution, very blunt questions. Who was leaving. What was funding like for fieldwork, or research on top of the stipend. What was their hiring strategy. What was their long run plan as a department in terms of goals. What was it like for women in the department there. What was the teaching load like. What were courses like. What research opportunities were there out of coursework, as an RA, or as a co-author with faculty. I asked the same of current graduate students and I was told very honest, unbiased information about the state of affairs, and some other surprising details about hiring strategies (or lack thereof...). Four months in, everything they said is true (for better or worse). 
Faculty genuinely don't want to "fool" you into picking their program because you're all the more likely to be miserable, less productive and reflect poorly on them if you find yourself in a situation you didn't expect. I did openly ask programs why I should pick them over a top 3 and they gave strong answers. Everyone was also open about why I shouldn't pick them (another good question to ask, albeit a blunt one).
I didn't decline offers until I was sure of where I wanted to go, which was admittedly quite close to the April 15th deadline but evident to me as soon as I was in the airport heading back after my last visit. Don't feel compelled to turn someone down. Consider your options carefully. Happy to talk more over PM as well. 
 

How awful of an idea is it to ask a POI something along the lines of how do you compare your program with these others and why should I pick yours given these interests and goals?

How awful of an idea is it to ask a POI something along the lines of how do you compare your program with these others and why should I pick yours given these interests and goals?

I honestly would feel bad to visit as an international student and getting reimbursed with over 500$ even though I am practically certain that choosing Penn over Columbia would be foolish given my interests. Yes, they have a great program, great faculty, and great research opportunities, that's why I applied there, but as someone else mentioned earlier, it is being trumped in every category by Columbia. 

Anyone else regularly checking one's acceptances? It somehow makes me extremely happy every time I see that all the effort actually paid off (and the offer is still there).

Anyone else regularly checking one's acceptances? It somehow makes me extremely happy every time I see that all the effort actually paid off (and the offer is still there).

Id say I am somewhat happy that they have their journals, we have ours, and nobody forces me to read anything in that direction. The only thing that annoys me is the activism that grows out of this perspective (and the indoctrination of undergraduates) and the idea that they may at some points in time have some influence on policy decisions. 

Why can't the PSU DGS be less nice. This only makes the decision harder.

Claiming PennState.

Claiming PennState.

Well, congratulations!!

Claiming PennState.

Congrats to all acceptances.

Congrats to all acceptances.

I claim a Columbia admit.

Way to go Monody!! You deserve it!

I claim a Columbia admit.