Hey guys!
I've rarely talked about it directly on the forum, but some of you may know that I was applying for a PhD in several American universities. Well, most of these universities have made their decision known over the past month or so. And while there have been many disappointments (at least two thirds of them said no), I still got into three of them and am waiting for two others.
Thus, my five choices, at this point, are:
- UCLA
- UC Davis
- Duke University
- UNC at Chapel Hill (I'm on waiting list)
- U-IL at Urbana-Champaign (still haven't heard from them)
As you can imagine, it's a pretty tough choice to make. I was wondering if some of you might know some of these universities, and could tell me a bit more about them in order to help me choose. Of course the academics matter most, but I would also want to know about the general quality of life, the people, the features of the area, the campus lifestyle and environment, etc.
Your help is very much appreciated. And I'm of course very excited about all this! 
Very privileged position to be in with such fine options. Congrats.
1) Start by eliminating U-ILUC and Davis. No need to go lower in academic quality than you have to, even if they are still good programs.
Are you in political science? If you are, then I'd definitely defer to you about which schools are best. But, if you aren't, this is exactly the
wrong approach to take in PhD programs, where the perceived "academic quality" of the institution does not matter a jot to whether you can actually do what you want with your PhD. (If anything, that perceived "academic quality" has more to do with undergraduate education, but even then I'd say it's a very tenuous connection.)
