davolicious

When I was applying, the last school I visited didn't have their official weekend until the end of March. Although I was leaning torward that school, it's hard to make a decision without visiting, yet several people posted (off-topic) in threads telling me to decline my offers at specific schools because they or their friend were waitlisted there. Some of these were single-posters (you can check stats), and I'm guessing one person created multiple accounts to bother me. I got several private messages as well. Needless to say, I recognize other people are stressed about being waitlisted, but there are good ways and bad ways to handle it.

I got one too. Timing is kind of bad as it will be at the end of the semester though...

I only applied to state schools, and every one (regardless of whether or not they accepted me) noted that funding was down that that they were accepting fewer applicants than normal, and that they were taking other measures to be more fiscally sound. Some schools are faring betting than others, and some departments are more insulated than others, but my impression that everybody is feeling some sort of a pinch.

I've officially decided on Penn State, and informed Ohio State of said decision. From the way the DGS was talking, it sounds like Ohio State won't have very many people in their cohort this year, unless they open up lots of slots from their waiting list.

I've declined offers from everywhere but my final two schools (Ohio State and Penn State). The DGS from one tried to contact me while I was out of town on presentations and campus visits, and I'm trying to recontact them to see what they have to say before I make my final decision. I appreciate your anxiety on behalf of your friend, or yourself, or what have you, and I'll work things out for those two schools as quickly as I can, but please don't put all the onus on me for their eventual outcome.

Hey everybody! I'm a sociology student, and I'm almost absolutely certain that I'll be a Nittany Lion come fall. I'm also stuck looking for housing, and family housing in particular appears sparse and very expensive. Either way, through the whole application process, Penn State was by far my number one pick and the best academic fit, and things have only looked more promising as time has progressed. A_Murphy, I assume they are probably grouping the sociology and crime students together in their visit (although I could be wrong). If so, I'll see you in just under two weeks!

I agree with your sentiments completely, and that's the offer I got as well. Their offer is competitive (no better or worse than) with everybody who accepted me, except the school which was truly competing with Ohio State for my top spot. It's much worse in terms of dollar value, but I would have considered it seriously if I had gotten the three year, or even the two year offer. I know I shouldn't take things personally, but I'm slightly offended by the overall process with Ohio State. They are the only school that delayed financial information, the only school where faculty haven't contacted me (outside of the visit itself), the only school where grad students aren't actively trying to recruit me, and so on. I absolutely loved the open-house they held, but I have no other evidence to suggest they really care whether or not I come. Sorry, rant over, but that's honestly how they have made me feel through this whole process.

Yes and no. Yes, I have decided, but my wife and I still need to pray about it to make sure we're doing the right thing. I recognize that may sound silly to some, but that's our plan. I've already taken my name off of the wait-list at Indiana, and will be informing my other schools within the next two weeks, and then I'm going to make what I anticipate to be the final choice between Ohio State and Penn State shortly after my visit with PSU.

Yeah, my offer could have been better, could have been worse, but it really needed to be better to be competitive.

Okay, I got my answer. Not sure what I think of it yet, but at least I know what my funding would be if I elect to attend.

So at the visit, they said we'd hear about our funding on March 8th (or so I understood), and in the acceptance email they said March 9th, and now that it's the 10th, I'm really wanting to know where funding stands, as all my other schools have given me clear information regarding this. I assume they will send out news via email, but I was wondering if anyone else had heard anything regarding this, or if we are all still in the dark.

I'm in that same boat. There were two schools that I was favoring over Ohio State, but their visit resolved several of the concerns I had. It brought up a few others, but they are minor in comparison. Speaking of Ohio State, funding news should be out in the next couple of days. That could potentially be a huge factor for me (not the dollar amount, so much as the number of years of fellowship support). On topic, I haven't actually pulled the plug on any schools yet. I told my wait-list school to take me off the list, but I haven't managed to actually send my letter declining acceptance to anyone yet. I plan on doing that this week for at least two schools, possibly three, but I'm hesitant to do so because I feel like I'm burning a bridge. I recognize that it's completely irrational, but I never claimed to be a rational man. Or woman for that matter. One school (Nebraska) that I know I'm going to turn down is a result of the combination of prestige as well as faculty suggestions. Every faculty member who I've spoken to essentially told me "you can do so much better than here." Another factor for me, especially since I'm married with kids, is years of implicit/explicit support. Arizona has many appealing aspects, and they offered bonus money per year for me, but they only truly guarantee it for one year, and supposedly guarantee it for three years. I was told they've never defunded anyone who was making progress, but I don't know if that's enough for me to go on. Washington State is another one that I'm probably going to turn down, in part because of it's level of prestige, but also because it's extremely far away from family (especially my wife's family). While that may sound like a minor consideration, I would rather finish grad school still married. Also, I assume a happy wife and children would be more conducive to academic productivity, so there's another bonus. Basically, I've pretty much narrowed it down to Penn State and Ohio State.

I was told that the expected cohort size is about 8, so I figure they probably accepted 15-20 people. One or two of the people who were also at the Ohio State visit are going to be there as well, so it should be a decent group. I know I'm jazzed about it.

Great news! If you're going to the campus visit, I'll see you there!

My question isn't specifically about the town, but about the University. I was accepted to the U of A, but my funding offer is a bit sketchy. They offered a relatively low amount, to which they added an "outstanding scholar" fellowship (a one year bonus of about $2K). My biggest concern is that second and third years of funding are supposedly guaranteed, yet they still say "contingent on availability of funds." After the third year, apparently all bets are off "although we can fund most students." How bad are the budget cuts at Arizona? If I were single, I might be more willing to risk it, but I've got a wife and two kids, and I can't afford to suddenly lose not only my stipend, but also my tuition waiver. Am I being too overly concerned, or is it really that bad? Side note: While making a visit to another school, one of the grad students there said he attended one semester at Arizona, and that his funding was gone after that. Should I avoid U of A?