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Well, I did not call anyone, just emails. Now that I was informed that my I-20 was mailed out last week, all I can do at this moment is simply wait for it to reach. The worst thing is that, it was mailed out by regular airmail, which has no tracking information available, and god knows when will I be receiving it.
 
 
 
I did speak to the graduate coordinator from my department in the beginning, and then she directed me to the international office when I started asking about my official letter and I-20 questions. I think the international office is actually the one that should be in charge of these matters.
 
At first, I was sending emails to a person from the international office. A few weeks later (after many times of telling me 'to be patient', and I was patient but I lost it finally), I started sending similar emails to several people from the international office. Guess what, same outcome. All I got was stuff like 'it is still in the process', 'we have many I-20's to process, yours is still in queue', 'you need to be more patient', 'we are trying everything we can'........
 
It has been a week since it was mailed out to me, and I have not received it yet. I emailed to ask for a digital copy last night and I was told 'we can't send I-20 over email because it is not secure'. I mean what kind of cr*p is that? Sending through email is not secure, and the original copy of my I-20 being mailed out by regular airmail is considered secure?
 
sorry for all the bragging, I am utterly disappointed and just trying to get some help over here.

Have been waiting to hear back from UC Davis but still heard nothing from them yet, so I decided to email the graduate coordinator again. He told me in the email that the department has stopped offering admission, and there will be no decision to be made until after April 15th. After knowing that, I realize there is no point waiting to hear back from them again because the other program I am interested in attending (Utah) has a decision deadline on April 15th, and also there is too much risk if I were to wait for UC Davis.
 
Therefore, I sent an email to the graduate coordinator at U of Utah, telling her that I have finally made my decision to accept the offer from them, hopefully everything goes well and I am officially admitted!! So if there is anyone out here who is going to attend to U of Utah, drop me a message if you want to discuss anything about the program, the place, etc. !!!
 
And good luck to anyone that is still waiting to hear back from their dream school!!

Yap, sounds similar to my school. I applied and got offer from the Chem department, accepted it and then I had to "apply" (i.e. initialize online form without resubmitting any documents) to the Graduate School. The Chem department then recommends admission. It also seemed confusing to me and I asked whether I can still be rejected. I was told this is just a formality, the Graduate Schools is the one who deals with sending official acceptance letters (and in my case also visa stuff) and it's not possible to get rejected.
 
I think it's a similar thing in your case, just different people selecting applicants and different ones sending official docs

That sounds a bit like when the Department recommends you for admission to the Dean of Admissions, then the Dean rubber-stamps your application and you receive your official offer. If there's something fundamentally wrong with your application the Dean's office will reject you...but it's usually just a formality/paperwork double-check. 
 
Hope the International Office processes your application quickly!

I accepted a place at Rutgers University a few days ago. There were still a few places I was waiting to hear back from...but realised that even if I did receive more offers...it wasn't going to change my preference. 
Feels great committing to a PhD program - I can now sort out my summer plans and perhaps treat myself to a holiday.
Now I've just got the US visa process to deal with...

Have been waiting to hear back from UC Davis but still heard nothing from them yet, so I decided to email the graduate coordinator again. He told me in the email that the department has stopped offering admission, and there will be no decision to be made until after April 15th. After knowing that, I realize there is no point waiting to hear back from them again because the other program I am interested in attending (Utah) has a decision deadline on April 15th, and also there is too much risk if I were to wait for UC Davis.
 
Therefore, I sent an email to the graduate coordinator at U of Utah, telling her that I have finally made my decision to accept the offer from them, hopefully everything goes well and I am officially admitted!! So if there is anyone out here who is going to attend to U of Utah, drop me a message if you want to discuss anything about the program, the place, etc. !!!
 
And good luck to anyone that is still waiting to hear back from their dream school!!

great to see this year people talking about going to universities like UNC, UT-Austin, Colorado, Michigan, UC-Davis, Rochester, Utah etc etc....... last year I only saw people talking MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Scripps etc etc ... and made me feel like only these schools were great.... and others were not so great ........ I am an international student and my knowledge about US grad schools was not so great before actually joining a school and hence I wondered before accepting the offer whether any school outside the Ivy Leagues and Scripps was actually that good ....

So, it seems that I am in a drastically different place than most other applicants I have seen on here, but here is my story & opinion on that, if you would like it:
 
My history: I did not apply right out of college at all, since I have a pretty low (2.9) undergrad gpa, even though my last 4 semesters were awesome, or at least mediocre (3.6), and so were my major/minor gpas.  I was certain that even with research & presenting that research at various conferences, even with extreme interest, what have you, that I would not get in, anywhere. I thought I would begin by serving my country but also using my scientific background, and attend graduate school either during or after my commitment to my country was complete. As it turned out, I was not accepted into the program in the military I was really interested in, so I applied again, and was rejected again. I had a really sad few months, I worked several temporary jobs, and eventually landed a 'real' job, using some of my skills acquired in school. After entering the work force as a real 9-to-5er, I realized that I want more than anything to go to graduate school and to then use that to do what I really love - science. So I decided that I would apply to graduate school, but I have only applied to one this season, the only one I really want to go to. There are several advisors I am interested in their research and also think I would get along well in their groups. It's where my life is, regardless of whether I get into graduate school. I also applied to jobs that are more related to what I would like to do for a career (rather than the jobjob I have right now), just in case I don't get in. Right now, I graduated from college almost two years ago, I have a good paying job, considerable references from my company, a larger skill set than I started with out of college, and a renewed sense of purpose. 
 
My opinion: You already applied where you could. If you can get more applications in by the funding deadline, maybe it's worth it to try for you. But I think, you've applied where you really want to go, right? And you put everything you could into your applications, right?
So if you get in, pick the best place for you and go bloom!
If not, well, go find a job that will pay your bills for now, make some connections, earn some money, and maybe take a class or do some research, and try again next year!
I can't think of much worse than taking a position at a 'safety school' with an advisor I don't like, or doing research I don't care about, etc, when I could be doing something else I like more. Honestly, my time off from school has taught me so very much, including that I cannot wait to get back to school. I love learning, and want nothing more than to get my acceptance letter in the mail, but ... to quote the gorgeous and smart Jennifer Nettles, "I ain't settlin', or just getting by... I'm tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high." It's not worth it to me to be accepted anywhere else, so I put everything I have into getting in there. So if I have to apply more than once, if I have to keep working a 'grownup' job, whatever, I want to get into that one school, and getting in somewhere else is not enough for me to be happy.
You should make a list of what really really matters to you, and chase that list with all your might. If that's graduate school, focus on that. Retake classes you did poorly in, retake the GRE, get an internship in something interesting to you, pay off some of your student loans, whatever you need to do to make sure you get in next time. And if it's not grad school, well, that's okay too. Maybe your profs didn't want to tell you this, but people choose not to go to graduate school and have great lives, all the time. Maybe you're one of those people. 
 
Also for what it's worth: go ahead and steel your self for the worst. I have found the hardest thing for getting over being rejected from something you really want is that look in the people who care about you's eyes, that 'what now?' look. I've seen it for both me and for my partner, and it's really bad from both sides. But if you a) have a plan and are confident that you can apply again and with better results, because you've made your 'package' better, it's a little easier to take. If you do get rejected, that's just better preparation for the real deal when you do get in, right? Cause from what I can tell, tons of rejection and failure... is the best possible preparation for real graduate research. 

which is going to make you feel extremely glad and proud of yourself when you are accepted!

Thanks! This is spot on, exactly what I needed!