kaykaykay

Maybe they read your previous post about their program. Congratulations!

A better analogy would be probably courtship. You try to appear your best the department selects you then the departments try to appear the best so you would select them. Both sides have to be satisfied to enter this engagement. . @ meep - a number of factors are calculated into admission decesions. Sometimes you do not get what you want but what you need.

http://map.ais.ucla.edu/go/1004075 Maybe you can catch one of these....

Well you got into a masters program that can help if you decide to reapply(also you could possibly spread your applications a little bit more?). Anyway, I hope you still get good news.

Just give some examples, of course without names! I am really curious and you answer with this deep "I know it better" nonsense. cool story bro.

I think hiring decisions and accepting manuscripts are all done by the elite so to understand how the deciding elites regard the programs the USNWR ranking is not bad. Of course there could be other dimensions, like grad student opinions but those would probably not influence the actual outcomes after graduation.

I would actually recommend that you should visit schools before deciding. You should get a feel for the school before commiting your next 5 years. Some people change their mind considerably during these visits. Visits are quite early too- you would have a lot of time to turn down an offer respectfully if you do not like the place & let people from the wait list to get in. Just my 2c.

R rankings probably capture better how people percieve the programs . The S method calculates weights on program characteristics based on what people reported as important in a survey. R calculates the weights based on how these people actually ranked the programs - what is actually important for them. See more here:http://themonkeycage.org/blog/2010/09/28/the_nrc_rankings_of_political/ Note that the R ranlings and USNWR rankings are more closely correlated than S rankings and USNWR rankings. Overall, however, NRC rankings have been attacked for many good reasons.

Frankly I think the Realist was very clear.These rankings are subjective but if a school jumps in and out of the 25, maybe it is not considered to be in the top 25. But of course you and you can only decide whether you want to take his/ her advice.

You can compare the cost of living between Cambridge (Congrats on the Harvard offer ) and Palo Alto on one of these cost of living sites: http://www.bestplaces.net/. Better still to visit these places and talk to the students & professors.

Take a leave of absence , get some experience in work and if you find yourself happier outside never turn back. Grad school is not a prison and you should not waste your time on it. In my opinion the leave of absence will give the ease of your mind that you can continue if you really feel like it. Happy Happy Life!

I am actually and sincerely curious. Could you tell a general example of a punishment? I only talked to people who asked for, and were granted a release from their contract. Of course the schools were not happy but they did not try to force them to attend (and there was really no way for them to do so). This happened with people choosing between very high level institutions so there may be other examples out there that I do not know of.

you can ask for a release from an acceptance if you change your mind after apr.15 and I have never heard from anyone not getting one ( schools know they cannot actually force you to attend) but before apr.15 you are not even obliged to do so as they should not have made you decide before that time. I feel that if schools can play with the rules of the game they cannot expect candidates to respect them.

I managed to negotiate it but i am not sure if I can give you the most appropriate answer. Maybe someone did this in an official letter etc. Frankly, I just talked to my POI. I was in reality hesitating only about the school because of the money. he called me several times and did not undertsand why I hesitated. When it was getting close to decision time I finally told him that I was not sure I could live on the money. He got back to me with a nicer offer (summer money, extra fellowship) in 1! day. I think what helped me was 1. a POI who was really interested 2.a competing offer which actually tempted me & what I almost missed : I had to actually tell the POI about the problem so he mobilized his resources.

ginsburg is right. If you inform your POI you will be in a better position.Most probably he/she really wants you there and he/she is willing to fight for you.

@bauhaus You may become the ultimate waitlister. I hope not. MIT sends out Fedex mails, which I assume (if they do the same for international students) could arrive to another continent slower.

well I said "you sound a little bit like a spoilt kid. " if that hurt anyone I sincerely apologise. It is basically because once I was in the same situation and cried over my top school which rejected me while I got into very great programs. As I did a masters in my top choice I can actually compare the two and I can honestly say I did not have any reason to be upset. Well, maybe your situation is different. In any case good luck with your decision.

Well, you can definitely transfer from top 10 to top 10 but I am not sure why would you want to . If you absolutely do not find mentorship and the resources you need maybe it makes sense. Otherwise just because you really really really but really really really want a program I do not think it makes sense. As harsh as I will sound you have to remember that your top program may have rejected you for a reason. The advisor you want may be too busy, leaving, developed different interests, they may have an overflow of students at your area of interst so they are uncertain that they can place the graduates etc. On the other hand the programs you got into may have the fit you want. You have quite a few great programs to choose from even at this point but you sound a little bit like a spoilt kid thinking already about transfering. Top 10 programs are top 10 for a reason they all have good professors and you can succeed in all of them. Visit the programs, and you may find yourself happy with your choice. On the other hand the results from "dream" schools are not yet out so you really have no reason whatsoever to think about this just yet.

My POI contacted a professor I only mentioned my SOP for an extra recommendation. Soon I got admited with a generous fellowship. If they are interested in you and try to gather information about you, they are seriously considering you- that is a very very good sign.

I was always very frustrated with classes where I got the equality is treating non native speakers as native speakers treatment. You know some of these studens have been learning this language for a couple of years and they might be putting endless hours in trying to study both content/ language at the same time. Fairness is not to throw their efforts away because they are not native writers. In my opinion you should grade everyone equally at the end of the day but give some chance for non native speakers to improve and develop a system where people (everyone) can get a decent grade if they excell on the non strictly language aspect of the course.

the competitiveness of the offer will depend on: 1. the cost of living in the area (which you can easily look up on the internet), 2. your other offers. Apart from the stipend or RAship TAship you should always ask about the situation of summer money, research money and dissertation year fellowships.

I had to get a B2 visa when i visited to get reimbursed. You should ask this from the university as fast as possible ... (it took me a couple of days to get the B2)

This probably depends on the school and on the major. Several different professors told me that they evaluate international students on the same scale as native speakers (even the verbal score) . They told me that my 93% was a little low. They also said that TOEFL scores do not matter at all because everyone in consideration has an almost perfect score. It must depend on the school though because they got 700+ applications with several great international applicants. I imagine in science where research experience, and math knowledge matters a lot this might be different. In political science both Q and V matter a lot for different reasons. Of course there are always some applicants who manage to compensate for low scoes with other aspects of the application. However, do not underestimate the competition.

Most schools know where they stand in the competition with the top schools. Also they know that you must have applied to other schools too.The schools play this game every year the professors will not hold it against you if you chose another school all you have to promise is serious consideration, and you should actually give them a serious consideration. Some things to consider now: 1. you may not get other offers (I hope you do) 2. you may visit and like it if you only have similar offers or even offers from better schools if they dissapoint (not unheard of) 3. it will give you a peace of mind when you have to deal with the top schools.

that is good, but I thought of an additional (non-graded ) draft. or warn them well in advance to get their work proofread by a friend because you will not treat them any differently to native speakers. Also some universities have on campus resources for non native speakers.