Aceflyer

I second this. Not all schools/programs have ranked wait-lists. It shouldn't hurt for the OP to send a brief 'update' email to the program indicating his new achievements and his continued interest in their program.

I third this. There's nothing wrong with using outside sources as references. What's wrong is copying and taking credit for someone else's work.

I'm not sure if the situation is different with Physics programs, but this is definitely possible, generally speaking, with Biosciences programs. The best thing to do would be for you to check the program's website and other materials and see if they mention anything about their policies for deferring. If you don't find anything, contact the program's administrator - it doesn't hurt to ask, and this is something you need to have accurate and up-to-date information on.

Did you ask your bank why they didn't send you a form? I have sometimes had to browbeat banks repeatedly in order to get the necessary tax forms from them.

In the sciences, doing a post-doc is almost as necessary as earning a Ph.D. Doing a post-doc seems to be less important in some engineering disciplines, though.

While I am not a fan of standardized exams by any means, I respectfully have to disagree with a few of your points. Taking a prep class is not a prerequisite for earning a good GRE score. ETS provides quite a few quality prep resources free of charge. GRE Fee Reduction Certificates are available to those who demonstrate financial need. As part of the test fee, scores can be sent free of charge to as many as 4 graduate institutions or fellowship sponsors. While ideally the GRE would be offered free of charge and unlimited free score reports would be provided to test takers, the reality is that there are costs associated with developing, administering, and scoring the GRE, and the best way to recoup these costs is to bill the test takers.

I've heard that East Rock and Westville are safe...

One thing to note is that given the current state of the economy, most institutions aren't hiring. Overall, I think that you should go with the program that you think would be the best 'fit' for you as of right now. You can't predict the future; faculty members at any institution might leave. I don't think you should be especially concerned about this unless you have actually heard that the faculty members you're interested in are actively looking to leave. And if they leave down the road when you're already settled in their lab, you'll have the option of going with them to their new program. So don't worry too much.

This is a much better Neuroscience ranking. Unfortunately they only ranked the top 11 programs. Considering that IU-Bloomington is within the top 30 in the general biological sciences rankings though, I'd say it's pretty good. (For comparison, UNC-Chapel Hill, which is generally considered to have a strong biological sciences program, has a ranking of 26.)

I'd go with Gatech for the funding. Going into debt is not fun. Academically, though (ignoring the funding issue), it seems like Stanford would be your best bet. However, I think funding is a very important issue to consider. Best of luck deciding! Those are some awesome options you have; congrats.

I agree. How much of a burden a TAship confers varies significantly from school to school and from program to program (and from course to course as well). Talking to students who actually have recent experience TAing in the program is the only way to get an accurate sense of what it'll be like to be a TA there.

I felt almost exactly the same way, socialpsych. In the end making the final decision was almost a bit of an anticlimax - nothing at all like what I had envisioned at the beginning of the application process. But like you, I know I made the right choice. I do feel a sense of loss regarding the other great programs that I won't be attending, but in the end I can only attend one program and I'm confident I made the right choice. So yeah, having such feelings is normal and probably inevitable. But I would encourage the OP to stop second-guessing too much and try to get excited about starting grad school in the fall.

I agree. I'm not really sure what the OP is trying to 'get' at with his post. But just in general, it's probably a bad idea to go to a program just because it's ranked highly or just because it's at a prestigious/big-name university. The importance of going to a grad program that is a good 'fit' for you cannot be overstated. Talking about Stanford particularly, it definitely offers strong programs in a variety of fields. Stanford Biosciences, for example, is one of the premier graduate programs in the biosciences. Stanford Chemical Engineering is also one of the top programs in the world in that field. At the same time, Stanford, like any other university, also offers some programs that are comparatively 'weak'. For grad programs, the reputation of the program matters a heck of a lot more than the overall 'prestige' of the school the program is at. (Assuming you want a job in the field after graduation, that is. If you're planning on switching to a totally different field like consulting or business, the prestige of the school might be more significant.) For example, if you wanted to do Chemical Engineering, you'd be foolish to go by school 'name' to select JHU over the University of Minnesota.

Congrats!

Ask them about their research. Ask them about their advising style, about the program, about the qualifying procedures and requirements, about the city, anything. Chat with them and see if you feel like you can 'connect' with them. Get a sense of whether the department specifically and the school in general are 'cohesive' (i.e. do the faculty all like to collaborate and work together? are there any sharp 'divisions' between groups of faculty within the department? do the faculty generally have an 'open-door' policy? is it easy to secure advice, help, or support from other labs and departments at the school?) and whether funding is secure. All of these are very important factors when it comes to selecting a program.

Call them and ask just to be safe. I wouldn't be that worried though considering that they fund everyone. But especially with the current state of the economy, it doesn't hurt to make sure before taking the plunge. Best of luck in your graduate studies!

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IMO this would only matter if you think differences in political views would preclude you from fitting in.

I couldn't agree more with the above. If you already know what program you want to attend, then accept that program's offer and decline your other offers. You don't have to do it all at once either - say you have five offers, from programs A, B, C, D, & E. If you're sure you won't be attending D or E, you can let those offers go first, and then spend more time considering your top choices, A, B, & C. But whatever you do, wait until you're sure. As cogneuro stated, to rush because other people are on waitlists is just short-changing yourself. In fact, you're not only short-changing yourself, you're also short-changing the programs which have extended offers to you. It is in both your and the programs' best interests for you to choose the best fit possible.

Different cultures/nations do have different standards regarding what is acceptable behavior and what isn't. It isn't that international students are more immoral, it is just that they may be used to different societal and academic standards/policies regarding what is acceptable. The problem here is that the OP knew, even before he got caught, that what he did was unacceptable at his current program.

They probably just felt that another program would be a better fit for you. Shockingly, grad school admissions criteria aren't just limited to GRE, GPA, and research experience; whether a program would be a good fit is also very important.

Just email (or call) them and ask. Have fun on your visit!

I agree completely with rising_star. How is searching the Internet for a solution any different than copying the solution off of a classmate? The latter is often more 'accepted' especially in courses where heavy collaboration and cooperation between peers is expected and encouraged. After all, it's always a blurred line between collaboration and just plain copying. I think the problem here is that the OP copied from an Instructor's Solutions Manual he found online. The issues are: he copied from a publication and tried to claim credit for what he copied; he copied from an Instructor's Solutions Manual, which he presumably should not have had access to in the first place.

The email is good, however, be aware that no promises have been made by the program or even the chair him/herself. But at least the chair likes you - that's always a good thing.

I couldn't agree more with the above post.