Paid for expedited processing and shipping. Applied for passport on 1/20...arrived at the Philidelphia location on 1/22...wasn't acknowledged by the agency as being received until 1/28...based on what I read from other people, this seems normal. On 1/28 the status was "In process". Called around 2/17 to check the status and also provide the representative with a travel date...which I hadn't done when I filled out the application. I feel like calling and providing the travel date helped speed things up. On 2/23 the status changed to "Approved". Received an email with an expected delivery date of 2/26. From the day I applied to the day I will receive the passport it's taken about 5 1/2 weeks. My travel date is March 10th. I applied 7 weeks in advance. To be honest, I was getting very nervous. If I could do it over, I would've applied at least 8-9 weeks in advance, even with the expedited processing/shipping.