"One, citing the universally high credentials of its 8,000 applicants, politely declined to admit me."

This irritates me about every single rejection letter I have ever received. I think people mistakenly have the idea that you'll take rejection easier if you know that you are in competition with an overwhelming number of people who are more or less as qualified as you are; when in fact it just makes the rejection sound much worse than it really is -- it gives the impression of "Not only did you not meet our criteria, but you were competing with teeming hordes of people at your level, even if you did." And of course it actually doesn't tell you anything about why you weren't picked; so they shouldn't say it. It would be better if they just said, "Thanks for your interest in us; however, we must inform you that you were not selected; good luck on your search."

Why study Latin or German, when you can study Latin in German?

More seriously, while you should go with what you'd enjoy better (there's plenty of time for tearing your hair out over research languages in grad school), if you have no clear preference, I recommend focusing on the German. Not only is it a good language for modern stuff, it's a great jumping-off point if you decide to pursue the premodern foundations of thought. One of my big regrets about undergrad is not buckling down and taking at least a little German. Plus, it's harder to pick up on your own than Latin is.

I can empathize with your dilemma. Ever since I changed my major and started making grad-school plans, I've been thinking that I'd love to go back and study German again (and I'm sure it would come in handy in my later studies). But I've always wanted to learn Latin (and I'm sure I could get some use out of it, too). German might be easier to do, since I've studied it before; but I'm mostly in Spanish-mode now, which might make Latin easier. I wouldn't mind trying to study both at once, but that could be difficult (not to mention expensive). Alas, that such choices should be ours to make!

In any case, if we wind up studying the same language, we'll have extra motivation for staying in touch: practice. ;-)

(And yay for dealing with snow! :-p)

The ways of admissions offices are passing strange.... Congratulations on the admission; don't sweat the other one, but never let them forget that they turned you down....

As far as the language goes, is there any reason you can't try studying both this summer, when it doesn't count against your academic record particularly, and see which one seems more likely to work out for you that way?

It's all about derivatives. Some Latin books claim the English language is seventy-five percent derived from Latin.

OR, one could look at it another way...

Toga or Lederhosen?

Hmm ... all very useful ideas. Thanks!