Roll_Right

You should be writing publications while you're reading. Reading through the debates and publishing are not mutually exclusive activities....

Hey there - sorry for a late response. GMU Sociology is very applied/public, with a heavy focus on inequality and globalization. We also have many faculty who specialize in quantitative sociology (and just hired a new faculty member with quantitative expertise). Having said that, you need to have strong writing skills to succeed in this program. All of your classes will require lengthy papers that discuss prominent social problems (such as economic inequality), and almost all of the faculty members expect you to be well versed in the political-economic conditions associated with the social problems that you're interested in. As such, you need to have some understanding of historical sociology and critical sociology. You can develop that understanding while you study here, but make sure you focus on that. If you decide to come here, it doesn't hurt to spend some time reading Marx and Weber before you arrive (if you haven't already). Here there are many opportunities to work on research projects that directly speak to public issues and public policy. I currently work as a quantitative researcher with the Institute for Immigration Research (IIR), which is run by Dr. James C. Witte in the sociology department. He's a well-know survey methodologist and quantitative sociology. The IIR constantly produces statistical research for various public groups who are interested in the ways in which immigrants are related to economic development in the United States. There are a number of other projects that department members are carrying out that speak to public issues and possible ways to address them...

Hi Stellar481 Apparently my old account was deleted because I haven't logged on in a while. So, I am now a doctoral candidate of sociology at GMU. Woohoo! Its been a little more than 4 years at this point. So, the first thing I can say about the Sociology and Anthropology department at GMU: I have literally no interaction with anthropology students. This is not because I do not want to interact with them. I simply am never presented with an opportunity to interact. So, while the department is a "joint" department, the anthropology folks hardly talk with the sociology folks, and the sociology folks hardly talk with the anthropology folks. Its unfortunate, but not something that should dissuade you from coming to this program. I'm sure you could make friends with sociology students very easily. I can't speak from the perspective of an anthropology student. I can talk about my experiences as a sociology student, though. First and foremost, I will say that the location is expensive. Fairfax County is one of the most expensive counties in the US. I've accrued debt and had to work a lot on paid research that does not relate to my degree. I've gained a lot of research experience with non-profits in doing that. The faculty here are great. I've been supported by numerous professors, coauthored two research articles with one professor, and worked closely with another in establishing the Institute for Immigration Research at GMU. So, there were a lot of opportunities for me here, and I was able to take advantage of them. I'm sure that you could find similar opportunities. I see that you are interested in bio-archaeology. I am not sure if we have strong faculty in that area. Nevertheless, I know that we have strong archaeologists among our faculty. I am great friends with one of these faculty members. We've worked on numerous geographic and statistical projects together. Moreover, he has an active project in Nicaragua - there is a site he returns to every summer, with a team of students and professionals. I think we also have a forensic archaeologist among our faculty. I don't know what he specializes in, but I know it involves identifying the cause of death for ancient human remains. Let me know if you have any more questions. RR