Le Fleur

Not to be a negative Nancy, but don't go to any of those schools if you want to come back to the us and teach at a research 1. you'll do adjunct work for a decade before tt becomes an option. Flinders u? Wtf IS THAT? sorry to come off elitist as hell, but don't commit yourself to a dissertation that isn't worth the paper its printed on. I think people in the academy forget to realize that it's just as stratified as any other system. The elites reproduce themselves and the non elites lament.

Not that im interested in playing tit-for-tat but:

1) I wasn't aware that its a commuter campus, but I'm sure that only holds for undergrads...so unless you were looking to get hot and sweaty to lady gaga and drinking tampico laced with Popov, you should be ok
2) who picks a grad school in relation to its weekend life? weekends are for reading anyways

I agree with all of you 100%. I hate it when my friends or family say "what ever is meant to happen will happen. When the program is right for you you'll be accepted." Really don't talk to me about fate when I have worked so hard forever. You never hear people at the bottom of the social hierarchy saying it was meant to be.