I went and spoke with my dept head today and essentially he asked me to stay also. He told me that if I had gotten my undergrad here he'd tell me to go elsewhere. And he told me if my adviser were the type to not take me to conferences and good about me networking he'd tell me to go elsewhere. He also told me his selfish reasons for him wanting me to stay - because he wants me to be the lead TA for a class that they are expanding.

He also told me that I would be eligible for fellowships (they pay almost double what I make now). He flat out said "I would love to have you stay here. And I don't say that to very many people".

So I'm feelin pretty damn good about myself right now. It's a really awesome feeling when multiple people want to take me on as a PhD student