Forest Owlet

Well, I will say that after applying to many PhD programs for 2017 admission, nothing has been more frustrating than transcript requests. The MOST frustrating part about transcripts is that there are still a ton of graduate programs that require us to request official transcripts to be mailed from their respective institutions after we submit our application (to be fully considered for review by the admissions committee, even if we have not received any unofficial admission offers), and often, these institutions will only accept hard copies via snail mail! Even when many universities are offering electronic official secured PDF options! Seriously, this is 2017...
Some institutions I request transcripts to be requested from have both first-class mail & overnight delivery options (though the second options always costs like crazy, but I always choose the second option if it's available, since the registrar office takes their sweet time to delay the delivery if a first-class option is requested), and some only offer their infamously sluggish first-class mail option. I find that first-class mail transcripts from their respective institutions sometimes take up to TWO weeks (or even longer) to get delivered, even though I requested them WELL IN ADVANCE! Some of these institutions' registrar office take FOREVER to process the transcript order and won't officially mail it until 2-3 days (or even longer) after initial request... simply ridiculous. Another frustrating part about these is that the admissions office of the graduate programs I applied to will email me (or nag me, if you can call it that, haha) to remind me that they still have not received the transcripts. I mean, what else am I supposed to do? I've done all I can by requesting transcripts to be mailed well in advance (as well as triple-checking that the recipient addresses are entered correctly). Sometimes I even had to order more copies because they were just taking so long to get delivered. And sometimes they were just plain lost in the mail! 
Does anyone else here found transcript requests to be the most frustrating part about graduate applications? Or does anyone have any transcript horror/annoyance stories to share? I'm relieved that more and more schools are only requesting official hard-copy transcripts (or ePDF) after an applicant is admitted, which makes this whole process SO MUCH EASIER. However, a large number of schools (including some I applied to) still require official HARD COPY transcripts mailed by snail mail to be fully reviewed by the admissions committee (even if you have not received an unofficial admissions offer), which I find it ludicrous, seeing that this is 2017 (and ePDF transcripts save so many trees). I will say that if it wasn't for all these transcript requests, I would definitely have saved a substantial amount of my savings that went to graduate applications... 

Just got admitted to my top choice!!!

Thank you  Nopes, not planning to do anything with owls 

I am not yet in grad school, but I was stuck in a similar situation a few years ago (though I had an offer then). Be like a gazillion percent sure about it if you decide to put grad school off by a year or 2 - you don't want to be holding that against your to-be spouse (as much as you know its your own decision, etc. etc.). I decided to get married and apply 'later'. Later turned out to be a solid 6 years later. Worked out fine (got some incredible experience, have landed some nice offers now), but it was a tough decision and there were moments when I regretted not taking up the original offer.

I don't know anything about your field, and how the application process works in it. But I am an international applicant who has been accepted into 2 of the 4 places I applied to (still awaiting 1 result).
My experience has been that it is almost completely dependent on the nature of the POIs you have been in touch with before/during the application process and how the interaction has been. If that went well, and the person remembers you (or he/she is a genuinely nice person), there's a chance that he/she may respond to your email and let you know what happened. Otherwise, it looks difficult. Even with just 4 applications, the responses have been right across the spectrum, from super helpful and nice to a slightly terse response (I actually got in there!), to complete silence.
While it is definitely not rude to ask for feedback on your application, you shouldn't take a stance that you deserve to know because you spent time and money on it. I don't want to be rude or unhelpful, I am just trying to explain how things are likely to work - please don't take this the wrong way! Think of it from the admissions committee's perspective - it would be unreasonable to expect them to respond to hundreds (or even dozens) of queries on how a specific application is weak.

I am not yet in grad school, but I was stuck in a similar situation a few years ago (though I had an offer then). Be like a gazillion percent sure about it if you decide to put grad school off by a year or 2 - you don't want to be holding that against your to-be spouse (as much as you know its your own decision, etc. etc.). I decided to get married and apply 'later'. Later turned out to be a solid 6 years later. Worked out fine (got some incredible experience, have landed some nice offers now), but it was a tough decision and there were moments when I regretted not taking up the original offer.

This post is appalling for many reasons, but it bothers me that you think that you don't need a PhD to go into many of these fields.
Are you telling me you don't need a solid understanding of how to interpret data in a rigorous scientific context when you're a science journalist conveying to the public whether a study is legitimate or not, or whether its findings are correlative? Well that explains why we have so many popular science posts claiming that "scientists have proved that intelligence comes from the mother" or whatever crap is in the media nowadays.
Are you telling me you don't need a rigorous foundation in scientific analysis for science policy, when Trump has now stated that the future of the EPA is dependent on whether politicians (who likely have zero experience with rigorous analysis of scientific data, or any data at all) are able to find the EPA's data conclusive?
Sorry not sorry, but we need scientists (WITH PhDs) in these fields more than ever.

Does it bother anyone else that schools like to start out the career path options presentations without mentioning going for a career in academia?
Why the heck would you go to grad school for your PhD if that is not your goal. I'm sick and tired of that shit, you don't need a PhD for consulting, you don't need a PhD to become a science writer, you don't need a PhD for an industry job..
Schools are letting in too many people, at every interview I've been to, I've met tons of smart people, alternatively, I've also met people that make me think "Why are you here?". I hear stuff like: "I'll be picking a mentor and doing rotations with people whose personalities mesh with mine" are you kidding me? -- I'll be doing rotations with people who are going to challenge me and push me to the edge - I'll be going with my gut feelings on who I choose to work with and it will purely be based off of their science. 
There are TOO many PhD's awarded, have you seen the statistics on PhDs on welfare (not just Biology PhDs to be fair but all in the USA) something like 30 percent on welfare. 50 years ago there were about 600,000 Bio researchers, now there are 6-7 million, it's not sustainable.
Schools need to clean up their acts, Masters degrees need to be funded not paid for by students - that can solve two problems: replicability as MS degrees can be focused on reproducing data and not novel data generation; it can also give an avenue for all the people who want to do what I would call "soft" stuff with their degrees. PhDs should only be given and encouraged for those who have raw talent and can become peers with professors not every person who applies.
If science does not keep you awake a night and doesn't wake you up in the morning... good luck.
When I'm a PI one day, I will not even let a student who does not want to become a SCIENTIST anywhere near my lab, not even for a rotation. Some of the people on this website and IRL just make me cringe, somebody needs to scientifically slap them with the truth.
What are your thoughts? Are you getting your PhD without the intent of at least trying to become a PI or Lecturer? Why? 

Thank you! I am an international applicant, so the process was a bit different for me. I have had detailed discussions with my POIs, but haven't had a formal interview. I think the best way to find out is to get in touch with your POI to check what the status is.

Thank you! I am an international applicant, so the process was a bit different for me. I have had detailed discussions with my POIs, but haven't had a formal interview. I think the best way to find out is to get in touch with your POI to check what the status is.

Very nice!! Congrats to you Forest owlet!  Are you going to be studying owls?  

Got through into UC Berkeley ESPM and Minnesota EEB! Super excited 

Got through into UC Berkeley ESPM and Minnesota EEB! Super excited 

Hello! I am also a Canadian in California and I can answer your questions  Here are some tips, separated by country, and then some tips that relate to the Canada-US tax treaty. This is super duper long so if you want the very short answer: Expect to pay about 13% in taxes total to all US tax sources. To be safe, budget 15% of income to go to taxes and get a pleasant bonus each year when you file taxes. More details below.
US tax tips:
0. In California, you will pay federal taxes and state taxes. Unlike in Canada, you actually file your federal and state taxes separately and you must finish your federal tax first in order to be able to complete your state taxes.  Depending on the city, you may also pay municipal taxes. As soon as you enter the US, you should keep a clear record of every single time you enter/leave the US and separately, every single time you enter/leave the state of California. You will need this to complete your taxes and it's a pain to try to reconstruct this each year at tax season. The number of days for the federal taxes is not as important now because you will be a non-resident for quite awhile, but for the state, it's important because taxes are pro-rated by the number of days you are physically present. For each trip out of the state/country, note the day you leave, the day your return, and what kind of lodging you stayed at while away. You will need this for your tax return.
1. Your stipend is likely going to be considered taxable income. I think there are only very few special fellowship cases where your stipend is tax-exempt. Like @UnawareInGeneral said, in the US, monies spent towards tuition and required book fees are tax-exempt. So you will NOT be taxed on your tuition waiver in the US. If you keep all receipts for required books and supplies, then you will also be able to deduct these costs from your taxable income as well. However, you must keep receipts and you must be able to prove that they are required in order to complete your class. So, for example, if you must buy a special book or if you must buy a special calculator then it's deductible. You cannot deduct things like pens, notebooks, optional textbooks, or other things aren't specially required for the class. 
2. This Wikipedia page has a great breakdown of the US progressive tax brackets for federal taxes. Again, as @UnawareInGeneral said, as non-residents, we cannot claim a few things. In addition to their list, note that we also cannot claim the "standard deduction" of $6,350 (as of 2016). We can only claim the "personal exemption" of $4050 (as of 2016). If you are familiar with Canadian taxes, the "personal exemption" is analogous to the "personal amount" deduction we have in Canada (which is $11474 in 2016), but just worth a lot less. (And they say we pay more taxes in Canada, eh?).
3. If you are married, you and your spouse must filed as "Married, filing separately". As pointed out above, this basically means you cannot claim dependents and you cannot take advantage of the better tax rates for families. 
4. So, from the Wikipedia page, you see the marginal tax rates. There's an example there that you can follow to estimate tax owing too. Here's a quick guide, assuming your stipend is $25,000 per year. First, you take off the personal exemption and any deductions for books etc (from #1 above). Let's say you have no books, so it's just the $4050. So, your total taxable income for a year is $20,950. The table says the first $9,325 is taxed at 10%, so you will owe $932.50 from the first $9,325 earned. The remainder is $20,950-$9,325 = $11,625 and this portion is taxed at 15%. So this is another $1743.75 owed in taxes for this tax bracket. Unless you are making more than $40k per year, you won't ever reach the next tax bracket. So you can estimate your total federal tax owing to be $2676.25 for this example, which is approximately a 10.7% tax rate. 
5. Now, you need to pay your state taxes. @UnawareInGeneral is correct that the highest tax bracket for state taxes is 13.3%, but as humble grad students, we will never reach this level of taxation. You can use this tax calculator from the state of California to estimate your tax owing. Enter the number after the federal personal exemption (there are other California specific exemptions too, but as non-resident, we rarely qualify for any and also our tax rate is low enough that it won't make a big difference). So, continuing this example, you would enter $20,950 into that calculator and see that your tax owing to California will be $376. This is a 1.7% tax rate. In addition, as a non-resident, your taxes and exemptions are pro-rated for the number of days you are in California.
6. Finally, you may have to pay municipal taxes. I don't know it for all the cities. I am not sure if students have to pay the municipal tax in my city, but I know that my spouse paid about $30 in taxes for income approximately the same as a student's (but they were not a student). So this is a small number. 
7. As also pointed out above, you do not pay FICA taxes (Medicaid and Social Security), which is around 6%. You should not pay this as a grad student, regardless of your foreign status. But being a non-resident doesn't always exempt you from paying FICA taxes. My spouse had to pay them even though we've been here less than 5 years. It's a little complicated and I admit I don't fully understand all of these details. Nevertheless, as a student, you shouldn't have to pay them!
8. So, ignoring the tiny municipal taxes, you should expect to pay about $3050 in taxes for a stipend of $25,000 to IRS and California. This is a total tax rate of approximately 12.2%. I generally tell Canadians to budget 10%-15% for taxes. Also, keep in mind that your school will likely withhold taxes from your income. If you fill out the proper paperwork upon enrollment (they will give it to you), your withholding will be about 14%. So you should get a little bit of money back each tax season. But this also means that you should budget your month-to-month expenses to consider a 14% withholding. Sometimes, the school doesn't give you the right form and the standard practice, without this form, is to withhold the highest tax bracket from international people!! So if you are seeing a 30% or more withholding on your first paycheck, you should immediately talk to HR to sort it out.
9. Misc. notes: As a non-resident, for federal taxes, you are only taxed on US-based income. So if you are receiving income from Canada from any source (e.g. a Canadian scholarship, a side business you might have etc.) you don't have to claim it on your US taxes. However, for California state taxes, you are taxed on any income paid to you for work in California, regardless of source. So, if you are receiving a Canadian fellowship to go to school in the US, you will pay California tax on that. But if you are making money from your side business in Canada, then it's not taxable in California.
10. Remember, US taxes are due earlier than Canadian taxes (April 15 instead of April 30). However, you also typically get your tax forms in the US much faster than you do in Canada. This works out because you have to file your US taxes before you can file Canadian taxes. You must do them all either by hand or with tax software and then print it out and mail it in. You just need to have it stamped by the post office no later than April 15. Most schools will provide free federal tax software to international students (I think it's required to) but not state taxes. Doing state taxes by hand is a pain and I think it's totally worth the $25-$35 to pay for the software that will do it for you. If you do buy software (or via an online service), make sure it's specifically for non-resident alien taxpayers. A lot of software are only for residents and they won't help us!
Canadian tax tips:
1. Unless you are required to for some other reason, you probably should NOT claim non-resident status in Canada. I find that there are a lot more benefits to keeping resident status in Canada than to switch to non-resident status but you should decide for yourself after reading the list below. @UnawareInGeneral listed some of the things you can't do as a non-resident in the US and they are all negative. Similarly, when you are a non-resident in Canada, you also lose out on a lot of benefits as well. I'll get into that below. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) allowed me to keep my Canadian-resident status while I'm in the US as a student. They required my spouse to change to non-resident though because they are not a student.
2. As a Canadian resident taxpayer living abroad, you must report all taxable worldwide income to the CRA. In Canada, graduate student stipends are not taxable if they are being used to support your graduate education. When I was in my Canadian MSc program, I did not pay any Canadian taxes on fellowships and scholarships, only Research Assistantship and Teaching Assistantship income (i.e. things where I receive a T-4 slip). However, in the United States, for my particular school, we might work as researchers and teaching assistantships, but the school is adamant that we are not employees. So, when I talk to the CRA agent (on the tax hotline) about this, they deem that since we are not working, the money is not taxable in Canada. They say I should not claim it at all.
3. However, since you are going to a UC school where you would be unionized, I assume that maybe you might have employment income that might be taxable. I'm not sure since I've not experienced that. But I do know what happens when you do have taxable income because my spouse moved to the US with me and worked (as a "real person", not a student) so they paid taxes to the US and to Canada on their US job. What happens is that first you convert your US income into Canadian dollars. Then you fill out a form to determine your "foreign tax credits" along with your CRA tax return. Basically, you calculate how much taxes you would have owed in Canada if that money was earned in Canada. Then, you determine how much taxes you already paid to all foreign tax collectors (at all 3 levels). This counts as "paid tax credit" towards how much you owe in Canada. The point of this law is to prevent you from being double taxed. That is, if you would have owed $1000 in taxes to Canada but already paid $900 to the US, you only owe $100 to Canada. Unless you are making a ton of money in the US, you are very likely to owe less to Canada than you would in the US and therefore not have to pay any extra. Let's say it's the worst case scenario and you are taxed in Canada for all of your UC stipend. Continuing our $25,000 income example and assuming an exchange rate of 1.3 CAD per USD, this is $32,500 CAD in income. Deduct $11,474 CAD personal amount and you will be paying Canadian taxes on $21,026 CAD of income. At a 15% base tax rate, this is $3153.90 CAD in tax owing. Now, you already paid $3050 USD in taxes to the IRS and the state of California. Convert this to CAD and the CRA sees that you've paid $3965 CAD to foreign tax collectors, which is more than the $3153.90 CAD you would have owed in Canada. So you would not have to pay any extra taxes to Canada.
4. As a Canadian resident attending school in the US, you are eligible to claim education tax credits in Canada just like you did when you were at University in Canada. You should ask your school to fill out the TL-11D form (link: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/tl11d/) to claim amount paid towards tuition as tax credits. Some people on these forums in other threads reported that their school refused to do this so your mileage may vary. I have been able to this at my school with little problem. You can claim this tax credit even if you don't directly pay tuition. That is, if you have a tuition waiver, it's like you were paid the money and then spent it on tuition. Tuition waivers definitely are not taxable in Canada. However, if you do have tuition tax credits and if you must pay Canadian taxes on US-income, the CRA laws require you to "spend" any tax credits (including carryover amounts from previous years) before you can apply the Foreign Tax Credit. I checked this with the CRA agent. So, in this sense, you are being "double taxed"---you won't pay more money out of pocket but you are losing credits that could have been applied later on. They are aware that the current law is not consistent with the intention of not being double taxed. The nice CRA agent said that they receive many calls about this question but until the law is changed, this is what happens.
5. As a Canadian resident living temporarily abroad, you are also eligible for the refundable income tax credits as well as the non-refundable credits mentioned above. So by filing my Canadian taxes with a $0 taxable income, I still get a few hundred dollars per year for various refundable tax credits. 
6. Unfortunately, as a resident filing from abroad, you may not NETFILE your CRA taxes. So you also have to mail in your paper tax forms! You also need to attach a copy of all your US tax forms with your CRA tax forms. So, you must do your US taxes first, then your CRA taxes. The order I work in is US-Federal taxes (Form 1040-NR), then California state taxes (Form 540NR) and then Canadian tax forms (Schedule T1).
7. So, overall, you should decide whether you are better off changing to non-resident to keeping resident status in Canada. Compare the benefits of Tip #4 and #5 vs the costs of potentially losing carryover Canadian tax credits. 
US-Canada tax treaty tips:
There exists a tax treaty between Canada and the US where if your taxable employment income is less than $10,000 in a tax year, then you pay zero US taxes on your income. So you might be able to claim this on your first year in the US (if you arrive in September, you will likely earn less than $10,000 in the first few months). Non-resident tax software will automatically detect which tax treaties you are eligible for and help you make the claim. Note that this is not a progressive tax thing, so if you earn $9,999 USD then you are eligible and pay zero taxes, but if you earn $10,001 USD, you pay the full amount of taxes. I don't know what happens if it's $10,000 USD exactly. 
 
 
So, I hope that was helpful. It's basically a brain dump of everything I know and what I try to tell to Canadians who come to my school.

Whether or not you can do this depends on each school's policy. At my school, everyone is paid the same amount unless you have a fellowship that covers all of your cost (then whatever excess is yours to keep, up to a certain maximum wage on campus). So, at a school like this, you can try but you won't be able to get more money. At my school and probably most places, it won't hurt you to try as long as you ask politely---you'll just get a polite no back.
I think you need to have some sort of reason/leverage in order to be successful. For example, if you have more than one offer, and the other offer is from a school that is comparable to your school (in terms of quality, fit and cost of living), you might be able to say that you really want to go to #1 choice school but this offer from #2 school is better, would #1 school consider increasing their offer? However, be careful how you do this. I would only do this if you really thought both schools are almost equal and that you would prefer to go to #2 school because of the money. It might be a little weird if you make this ask, they say no, and then you attend #1 school anyways. It may or may not be awkward, depending on how your interactions went.
Another way to "leverage" is having external funding. If you have some external funding source that reduces your cost to the school, you might be able to ask for more money along with something like another offer from another school. So now, you can say that school #1 is offering X but school #2 offered you $X+$3000, and since you are bringing in Scholarship XYZ worth $10,000 per year, would it be possible for you to be paid the same as school #2? This method is better because you are bringing something to the table instead of just asking for more. And it doesn't leave the implication that you would prefer #2 if #1 says no.
Having a good reason for more funding could be the key factor. If you can explain why you would not be able to attend their program (or would be severely disadvantaged) without additional funding, then you might have better luck than if you are just asking because you want to have more savings or to have a more competitive offer. For example, you might have some extra costs for health maintenance that make the current offer not enough to survive on. 
Finally, the most important factor is something you can't really control, and it's whether or not the school even has a means of increased funding. Some departments have "funding tiers" where some students might get a few limited fellowships and get paid a little more than those without (paid as TA/RA, for example). If this is the case, having at least one of the reasons above might convince them to bump you up to a higher funding tier. Even if they already offered fellowship spots to everyone they have room for, you might convince them to draw from a future year's budget to fund you. Or, maybe they know someone is about to decline their fellowship so you can have their spot.
On the other hand, some schools (like mine) believe that their funding offer is enough to survive on (I would say yes it is, and with a few thousand to spare each year too!). In that case, you are very unlikely to get a stipend boost in order to match the competition. I think that your best bet in a school like this is to combine reason #2 (external funding) and #3 (a demonstrated need).
To end on a personal anecdote. I had an external fellowship from my home country's government and asked if I could keep any part of it. I didn't make this part of a "negotiation" though, I just wanted to know out of curiosity since it's common in Canada for these fellowship holders to get a little bonus. Also, the fellowship results come out much later than admission decisions so I had already accepted my place. I got a polite "no, sorry, we don't do that" from my school. A few months later, for various personal reasons I won't get into here, I ended up having to pay almost $10,000 in medical costs. I asked for help with this and they decided to retroactively give me a first year stipend bonus to cover these costs since I am bringing in external funds (the total value of my outside award was about $60,000).
 
 

Yeah, definitely clarify with the professor / the person that made the offer to you. To help you though, here are some possible answers to your question / tips on how to find more info:
This wording is typical for a lot of schools. This sounds like yes, the plan is to fund you for 5 years, and they are telling you that it is certain that you will have one year of GSR support and 1 year from your prof (interpretation: there are two years that you won't have to TA). The remaining 3 years are "competitive" and basically will depend on your progress. If your POI has funding, you might get additional POI funding, or if you get a fellowship (competed within the department I guess?) or a GSR then you will continue like the first 2 years. Otherwise, it sounds like your final years may be funded by a GSI (i.e. teaching). It also leaves the possibility of you getting no funding if you are not progressing, however, in most programs, this means you are getting kicked out----schools will rarely keep a student but revoke funding.
So, the interpretation is that you will be funded for 5 years for sure. You know that 2 of these years will be GSR/RA type funding. The final 3 years could be more RA work or it could be TA work. I wouldn't worry about losing the funding.
The clarification questions I would ask are: 1) what fraction of students are funded by GSR/GSI/fellowships each? and 2) how are GSR and GSI allocated?
This is a little less normal in the sciences. Usually, the letter says something like, you are funded for the 9/10 month academic year on a TA (or GSI) and you can get a RA/GSR in the summer months. It is weird that the letter doesn't specifically say this. You should definitely ask what are the sources for summer funding and whether it's a competition and how many people get summer funding etc. Maybe it doesn't say because it's up to your POI to provide summer funding and the letter is only discussing the department provided support. So double check.
It might be the case that you get no summer funding, but this might be okay if the 10 month funding is indeed enough to last the whole year.
I would be concerned about this. How much is NRT? At some schools this is like $20,000. You should ask what happens after two years to ensure that you don't pay for this out of your stipend. Maybe like above, the source is your POI so the letter doesn't mention it. I think this is the most worrisome part of the offer!! One exception: Maybe the state that you are going to only charges NRT for the first 2 years and then you are back to the in-state rate. Hopefully you'll get this clarified.
Sometimes the letter doesn't mention support for insurance. You should check the graduate students website for the school and see what kind of insurance could be provided. It is normal for students directly "employed" (although many schools will say we're not employees technically) to be able to have access to insurance benefits. So, you might only get school support for insurance only when you are on a GSI (and since you don't have a GSI offer right now, there isn't any). 
However, I think international students are required to have insurance, so you will still have to pay for the school's student plan. So check the school website to find out what the costs are. At one example school, I see numbers like $4000 per year for insurance for students, and $2000 if you are on a GSI. Also ask the POI for clarification on insurance benefits, if any. 
If there is no school offered insurance at all, then it's a little weird. But it's normal for a school to not offer insurance as part of your pay/benefits. You need to consider this when comparing offers from different schools.
You can still check, but usually if there are still additional funding to be earned via fellowships, they would have told you. Maybe there are summer funding fellowships though. Note that even if you win additional fellowships later, you might not end up getting more money. Often, the written value on the offer letter is going to be your stipend no matter the source of the money. That is, if you win a fellowship for the last 3 years, you are not likely to be able to have the fellowship and also work as a GSI. They'll replace your GSI funding with your fellowship.
Don't forget that stipends in the US are taxable. You may end up paying little tax due to a tax treaty between your country and the US, but remember to deduct taxes. Also remember that there are three levels of taxes: city, state and federal. Some cities and states do not tax their residents though, but just keep it in mind.
You asked about health insurance, but also look into dental and vision insurance too. These are often considered separate from health insurance in the US. Factor in these costs when comparing funding packages. It's more common to see dental plans than vision plans.
It's okay to ask the relevant questions to your POI. For some stuff, you might want to ask someone else more directly involved. If you got this offer from your POI, then ask all the questions above to your POI. If you got it from someone else, like the director of graduate studies or someone similar, then ask that person instead.

I hope the decisions don't take as long to come as winter did in GoT...

@CaffeineCardigan & @siitrasn I applied from Korea, so I believe we're in the same time zone. My whole body clock switched so I ended up staying up all night here on the forum or checking my applications. I recently came to the U.S. on vacation and am in almost the same time zone so if any notifications come, they will come during the day time. I still find myself waking up in the middle of the night to reach for my phone - the habit of waiting all night for notifications seems to be having some lasting effects. Hopefully I'll be able to start sleeping through the night, but I know how it is applying from Asia. 
Also, another thing that happened with me was that on Monday, I'd think "oh, it's a weekday now, maybe I'l hear something" but then I'd realize it's still Sunday in the U.S. and be disappointed. It just made the weekend feel really long. Hopefully this torture will be over soon. 
In terms of admissions notifications - I've received 3, all via email. Most of the schools that I have been admitted to have not changed their online application status (they all say "pending" still). The one school that updated the status didn't send me an automated email to go check the status either. So how you get notified, I think, is really unpredictable as well - Sometimes the results page would be a good indication on how a particular school issues notifications, but especially for int'l students, I wouldn't expect a phone call simply because of the time difference. 

Or my favorite: a giant tribal like fire where professors dance around tearing up applications and tossing them in and watching them burn as a pulsing drum beat plays.

Ok, so this is not as straightforward as you might think. I emailed the coordinator and my POI, and was informed that I have a strong application and am definitely still in contention, although I was not invited for the interview weekend. They said that another bunch of interview calls might go out around mid-Feb.
There's still hope!

Ok, so this is not as straightforward as you might think. I emailed the coordinator and my POI, and was informed that I have a strong application and am definitely still in contention, although I was not invited for the interview weekend. They said that another bunch of interview calls might go out around mid-Feb.
There's still hope!

Ok, so this is not as straightforward as you might think. I emailed the coordinator and my POI, and was informed that I have a strong application and am definitely still in contention, although I was not invited for the interview weekend. They said that another bunch of interview calls might go out around mid-Feb.
There's still hope!

lol you can't tell me anything I haven't already heard/witnessed -- this whole thing is like an abusive relationship... You know you're headed toward hardship and pain but the other party plays hard to get / strings you along and you're basically waiting to suffer. Perhaps we all need an intervention.

It's ok! We all do it. We also tend to read 2-3 letter words quickly and that is why you missed it; rest assured that some of your app readers will, too. 
If it helps make you feel better, I co-authored a book several years ago. I combed through that thing a zillion times. We had publishing and marketing folks on it. Yet, on p. 81, there is a @"$&!?! typo. A 2-letter word missing, to be exact. Argh!! I learned a lot from that experience.
If you're not done or there are others reading this who have yet to submit their statements, I'd like to share my process FWIW: 
For my 9 unique PhD statements, I had 3 levels of readers after I had finished a (what I thought was) solid SOP. 
Reader 1 (2 apps per reader): general feedback, confusions and clarifications needed, proofreading. 
I did serious revisions, then,
Reader 2 (4-5 apps per reader): proofreading only. 
I was really surprised by how many errors they found. I revised it again. I also read it OUT LOUD to listen for flow, and revised for that. I highly recommend doing this part if you have not. You'll be surprised by what you catch when you read your work out loud! Finally, just before I submitted it, I sent it to:
Reader 3 (one person): final proofreading only (no content comments, please). 
Reader 3 caught a few missing words and simple typos, as well as looked up what I should have in my headers (i.e., PhD vs Ph.D., which varied by program, and not something I caught or thought of on my own).
This whole process took a week and involved 10 people. I created a timeline and deadlines for each reader. Reader 1 was given 2 days, reader 2 had 2 days, and reader 3 just 1 day. I asked their permission ahead of time and explained which part of the assembly line they were in  ?
Finally, I converted the final SOP Word doc into a PDF and checked it one last time before I submitted it. This is important because sometimes the formatting was lost/changed when uploaded into the online applications as a Word doc. I noticed this with my CV as well, so while I'm pretty sure one tiny formatting error wouldn't disqualify us from acceptance, I do believe presentation matters. 
This system worked well and I feel really good about the way my statements turned out. I haven't gotten any official acceptances yet, but I do have an unofficial acceptance and an interview coming up. 
For readers, I asked my willing Dr. friends to edit my top choices, and then asked friends who'd finished a master's or were great readers. Everyone was happy to help!
I have already earned two graduate degrees (MA, Ed.M.), am a writing teacher, published technical author, fiction writer, and I earned a 6.0 on the GRE writing, and yet I still make careless errors. I've just learned that this is something I do, so I need help. I feel all of those experiences really helped me structure this SOP writing journey and application process, FWIW. 
I hope this process helps someone going forward. Good luck everyone!

So were you successful? I decide that every week. 1 hour later I am refreshing the results page