cranberry

Absolutely visit before deciding. The most important thing, especially at this point, is fit. If you visit and find that you really just don't get along with your POI, or discover that he/she is a complete jerk, you may want to reconsider. Also, different programs have completely different vibes, and you need to figure out which one works best for you personally.

Prospective and perspective. Seriously, people!

"In the humanities, where most students pay for their own PhDs, the figure is 49%." I was not aware that most Ph.D. students in the humanities paid for their own degrees. I certainly will not.

You have two great acceptances already!

Interesting that UCLA appears to have sent out waitlists and rejections before their interview weekend. I wish all schools would do the same.

Well, poo. I knew it was a long shot, anyway, but it was my first choice. Do you happen to know when they made the interview offers?

I know several Asian classicists. No idea if they're specifically Malaysian.

Oh yes, they definitely can and do. I guess there's some comfort in knowing that Monday's President's Day and therefore there will be no mail?

*frowns at email inbox and phone* Why must you be so silent?

Seriously? That's horrible! Was the email personalized to your name?

Definitely don't put all your eggs in one basket. Would you feel awful if you turned down School B and then didn't get into School A after all? Hopefully that won't be the case, though! Best of luck to you!

Hey, I'm sorry I reacted harshly to your post. I assume you understand my feelings now, and also understand that this type of complex you are going to have to get over in life. Being insecure and overanxious about many things myself, I can sympathize with your worrying. However, please realize the great opportunity you have and do not pass it up for the reasons you listed previously.

...You've got to be sh*tting me.

Congrats on the acceptances! Getting into my top choice would be the highlight of my life (well, one them at any rate).

I've received a couple of acceptances from the DGS, all unofficial I suppose. They informed me that I would be receiving full funding and what type but didn't give specifics such as the stipend amount or health insurance. I assume that will come later with the official acceptance letters.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even if you accept an offer you can reject it later, just not the other way around.

*twiddles thumbs* I'm ready for some more news...

Thanks for adding the new spam report feature on the results page! Hopefully the number of asinine and frustrating posts will go down now

To pass the time... Which program have you applied for (or what is your area of specialization), and if you haven't applied this year, what are you considering?

I would go wherever would be most likely to help me get a job, and if Program A is more respected and highly regarded than Program B, the choice is obvious. Since I want to go to grad school to have a career in academia, I'm going to think of my future and the long-run rather than focus solely on the money I get in grad school. Granted, if Program A offered me a solid $20k/yr but Program B offered $50k, I might think twice.

If a potential recommender had said that to me I would have dropped it immediately.

Having been in a similar position during undergrad admissions, I can say that I deeply regretted not withdrawing some applications. I applied to A,B,C,D,E,F,G (in order of preference) and got into A,B,C,D,E before any word from G, yet I somewhat selfishly kept my application for consideration even though there was practically 0% chance I would attend (prestige, location, fit). My college counselor at the time assured me that they would not be offended, but then again undergrad admissions is significantly less personal that grad school offers. HOWEVER I will say that even though I was accepted to my top three choices, I ended up attending my fourth choice because of an incredible scholarship offer. But you said that School E probably wouldn't match your School A offer, so there's that. Have you visited School A yet? Before I applied I visited one of my top choices and ended up disliking a POI (personality clash) so I ended up not applying at all. I am in the opposite position of having heard only from my bottom choices so far (all positive, but still), so I envy your situation ;-)

But don't they do interviews? I assume since I haven't gotten an invitation by this point it's a no, whether they've told me or not. I can hope, though Also, where did you hear that?

Do you suppose it's safe to say that Princeton is out if I haven't heard from them yet?

Congrats to whoever got the USC acceptance! That's a terrific stipend.