1too3for5

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I would definitely wait if you've already reached out even once. 

No news is good news if the relevant department hasn't sent out interview invitations or acceptances, and bad news otherwise. Without knowing which one holds, it's not really possible to say much of anything other than that as long as you haven't heard otherwise, you can hold onto hope that something good will happen. 

It's not a red flag. If you look at the post, you'll see it has 3 "goods" and 10 "no goods," so more far more people disagree than agree. If anything, it's more likely a green flag that this is an advisor you'd want. The reason why that person may have made that ridiculous statement is that a faculty member who only co-authors with graduate students may be seen by faculty as not being serious scholars. But even that notion is a big stretch.
The point is, you shouldn't be treating every post on that forum as gospel. There is plenty of misleading nonsense - sometimes deliberately misleading nonsense - posted.

Sorry about the accidental downvotes socapp2017 - I upvoted your posts again. I didn't realize you were talking about johnallen in your post, not the OP. And I agree with your recommendations if multiple admissions are offered.
And draco malfoy, congrats on your admission offer! From socapp's recommendations, I'd say talking to current PhD students will be extremely valuable - they can provide some great feedback from students' perspective (life as a student with the current stipends they receive, etc.).

Generally, when someone on the internet responds to a question by telling you to google the answer, it's intended to be a snarky comment implying that you're an idiot who haven't covered your basics. Since that apparently is not offensive to you, here you go:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=negotiating+offers+graduate+school

Now that I've received my first offer and funding package (with hopes more will roll in), I'm wondering - is it standard to negotiate offers? Stipend amounts? Teaching loads? How does this work, and what is the standard protocol? I know that a friend of mine last year was accepted to UCLA's PhD program in Sociology, and then Yale afterwards, so he told UCLA he was accepted to Yale and was considering going there over UCLA - and they (UCLA) offered him more money. But that's my only knowledge with "negotiating" these types of things. Any solid info or opinions would be appreciated. Also, if you know of any resources, that'd help, too. Thanks.

hey, this is the OP. First of all, you all were right, I shouldn't have been so confident; I didn't get into either Berkeley or NYU, unfortunately  Lesson learned. But I did get in to one of my other top choices in California, which I'm really excited about too! Anyways, thanks to everyone for the critical feedback and sorry for writing an obnoxious post to begin with. Hope everyone else has had good luck this round...

Exactly.
However, to refer to OP's question in the context of rankings, go with university rankings as a small consideration. No one aside from students and deans--the people USNWR polls for the rankings--cares about what the program rankings say. Law and business school rankings are very good for reflecting employers' perceptions of the programs, but public policy rankings are not and are in fact borderline absurd. It makes no sense to rank Indiana above Columbia SIPA and Princeton WWS when SIPA and WWS are the ones getting their grads into the State Department, top domestic management positions, and major consulting companies.
Beyond this, though, scholarships, the course availability (e.g. CMU might be good if you want data-focused policy), location, and actual job placement of students should have far more weight on your decisions. The name of your school plays a significant role in where you might end up, but if you can't afford your school or if your school doesn't have the courses necessary for you to gain skills you can't get anywhere else, you're not going to get as far as you can.
And not to nitpick your post @ExponentialDecay, but I'd hardly call "American" or "GW" "shitty." They may not be elite, but they're at least decent.

Ceteris paribus, I'd go with program ranking. A program's position in a program ranking is probably a function of several factors, including its prestige among peers. People from the outside might look at Cornell more favorably than Indiana despite their programs' rankings, but scholars familiar with the field in general will recognize Cornell has a considerably weaker program, and probably place the appropriate weight to this fact when evaluating someone.

Just wanted to share from my reading of the 2016 Acceptances, Interviews, and Rejections thread - Last year on Feb 18 quite a few people suddenly got in and were celebrating when, 'In a cruel twist of fate, Columbia PhD acceptances yesterday were a clerical error. They didn't even apologize in the correction email' ( link ) and I cannot even fathom!
Thought I'd share their woes, as that forum reads like a book of dramatic ups and downs which fills my wait time quite nicely as it's obviously easy to relate to. 

I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that a.) there won't be any more people admitted to the program and b.) they sat on your application for a month. The application process is so varied from institution to institution that there is no way of knowing for sure how they process applications and then how the committee reviews them.

A few things could have happened. Your application could have been sent along with the rest and for whatever reason the generic email you received went out later than expected or wanted (maybe they sent them out when all departments applications were in). There may have been a delay in the system for whatever reason. Who knows? I think in this situation it is best to err on the side of caution and give them the benefit of the doubt. 

If your application is strong and they feel you are a great fit for their program, I am sure they will do what they can to get you an offer. I would craft a carefully worded email asking for clarification and explaining your confusion and concern, save it as a draft, give yourself a day or two to think about how to edit it, edit it to be sure it sounds professional and concerned but not angry, and send it in. Maybe have a friend or two look over it too before you send it in. Computer mediated communication makes it hard to read tone. If someone is having a bad day or feeling defensive about something else, even a thoughtful and well worded phrase placed in the wrong spot might make your email come across in a negative way. 

I am sure it will all get cleared up. The anxiety and uncertainty is making us all on edge. 

If you applied in New England, I wouldn't be holding my breath to hear much tomorrow. Most of MA, CT, NH, and some of NY is closing because of the snow storm.

Congrats to the Duke and Brown admits!

I applied to SHIPS, Education Policy/Sociology.

If you google "UCLA grad application status check", the first link will take you to a form if I remember correctly and it will give you a password and connect it to your application and then you just login and it gives you the status. 

Hi where can you check the UCLA application status? Is it the same website where we submitted the application?

Anyone want to claim the Duke waitlist?  Did you reach out or did they just shoot you an e-mail? I'm pretty anxious since I didn't hear anything Friday.  

yes i am. i chose the ed.d. route because i find myself more of a practitioner. i like being on the ground. in my near decade of teaching, i have sensed a disconnect between policy and how it manifests in the classroom. it is really startling to me. for example, in early childhood, we have kept recess times extremely short (15 minutes roughly per day) and have raised the bar to demand that kindergarteners read at a dra 8 by the end of the year. there is a lot of developmentally inappropriate policies being implemented and teachers not equipped to defend our instincts w research. sigh!
i also have chosen the ed.d. route because i really love my school and administration, amidst all the imperfections. if i were to have chosen to pursue a phd, that would have meant leaving a community i love, without having yet left the biggest impact possible. the ed.d. capstone project is a way to bridge the policy, research, and practice divides. im really excited for its potential to bring further transformation to my school. 
what about you? why did you pursue phd over edd or vice versa? just curious myself.

With Duke I'm guessing they just didn't send out all the news today, in years past decisions were sent out over several days.  With PennState I'm gunna hope you are right haha I'd rather be waitlisted than rejected out right  Good luck to you w/ Duke too- maybe we'll both hear positively from there.  I could really use some good news next week.  

Not all schools make it so obvious, but there's two parts of the admission process. Admission by department and then the official ok by the grad school. Many departments will provide you a letter saying you were recommended by the department for admissions and most people post those results on GC as an acceptance. Which in most cases it is. But it is possible that the grad college will look at your scores and say they are too low and ultimately deny you. I've never heard of this. So I would say its pretty safe to say you're accepted and department will get in contact with you. 
Technically though, you're not accepted until you receive an admissions offer by the graduate school of the university you are applying to.
Congrats!

Did yall hear about Grace Kao heading from UPenn to Yale? Big stuff. http://sociology.yale.edu/news/grace-kao-join-faculty

Do you guys think a lot of schools are going to be next week? It seems like February 9th and 10th are popular days for schools to send decisions. Plus, my horoscope says I should expect big news on the 9th so,

I second that. I've heard negative things about UCLA's retention largely due to little support or assistance to grad students.

@socnewbie congrats! I might agree with @draco.malfoy (in part because of your interests but also because his/her handle is fantastic), but ask about retention when you visit. UCLA is quietly infamous for losing almost half of its students along the way - I'm sure there are plenty of reasons for this, but I think it's important to end up in a program where you feel confident you'll receive the support you need to complete your degree.