PostmodernPendulum

So, I've been on grad cafe a lot over the past few months, but I've mainly been looking at the other discipline I've applied to... Just wondering..has anyone heard back from Purdue for the Rhet./comp. Master's program?

I read on a news article once that something like 22% people get accepted to any PhD program and 48% to any master's program. But this was obviously not cited in a peer reviewed journal with any info on SD or sample size so it's probably completely useless.

I still have yet to hear back from UC Davis as well or from UW (although I've pretty much told myself it's over at this point) *panicked laugh* haha but you sound pretty qualified to me, but I would agree with you on your GRE scores. If I were you I'd definitely shoot for 160 in both sections. Although, as we all know, the GRE does little to predict grad school success. Anyways, congrats on getting waitlisted. That in itself is an accomplishment when so many are completely rejected from grad school ever year. I'm sure if you don't get in though that you'll come back next year and kill it!

What were your GRE scores if you don't mind me asking, and what schools did you apply to?

That's actually kind of funny because I've yet to get accepted anywhere for sociology BUT my alma matter ? Although in response to someone saying that it feels personal, I would say that it really just depends on who is on the admissions committee that year. It may or may not be someone who knows you or your work at all.

If you google "UCLA grad application status check", the first link will take you to a form if I remember correctly and it will give you a password and connect it to your application and then you just login and it gives you the status.

So random question... So a lot of schools I've noticed say that most applicants don't hear back till March or April, like UCLA for instance says that on their grad application status check tool, but when you look on the results page on Grad Cafe, most of the acceptances and rejections for a lot of the schools, just like UCLA, are way before that. Do they just say March or April so that they don't get a lot of people calling and emailing or do they really make "most" of the decisions during those months like they say?

That's actually what I'm most curious about. Like I said, I wasn't necessarily saying it was one way or another, but I'm curious to know the number of applicants (BA:MA) vs admits (BA:MA) to schools that only offer a "masters along the way" or no masters program, and if it's ethically reasonable for schools to tell you in their FAQ that a master's is not at all required (much less encouraged) when in fact it might be not required but somewhere mentioned that it's encouraged. And I'll say that every program I'm looking at made me apply to the PhD program, hence masters along the way or no masters. Now this isn't to say that my experience suggests it's on its way out as contradictory statements here might suggest otherwise, but I have heard that from professors.

Well first let me say that I did do some research and TAing at my undergraduate institution; my BA was at a research-oriented university. And I do acknowledge that you can obviously have some research experience and have a pretty clear idea of what you want to study coming out of undergrad, and I'm not completely worried about my own application per say. However, looking at things in the long term or broad perspective, it feels like it has the potential to create a gap in the admissions process. So for instance, if 2010 was the year that most universities began to do away with the terminal MA. Over the course of the next few years, most of the out of undergrad applicants applying to top PhD programs would be competing with master's applicants as opposed to just bachelor's applicants. Naturally, most of the master's applicants who apply to universities with the right fit for them will get accepted because they will have more experience, the experience and research done in undergrad and in their master's programs as well as being a good fit for that university. While overtime, there will be less and less master's students looking for PhD institutions (not 0% because some will choose to transfer/leave/stop there etc), and once again the majority of applicants will be students fresh out of undergrad. But in between, you're going to potential see a difference in the pool of applicants who are applying. Now I'm not saying this is the only thing that matters. Obviously, as you said, fit is extremely important, as well as many other factors, but was just curious if anyone felt that this could create a problem. In fact, I think in general it is beneficial to keep the master's and PhD programs separate, as far as admissions is concerned because then you have two pools: mostly bachelor's competing for master's programs and mostly master's competing for PhD programs.

So this is more of a hunch or a question regarding how the admissions process works for sociology. So I've noticed, as have most of you that the Sociology Master's program is growing less and less frequent in the United States. More often than not now, maybe for funding issues or as a way to try to keep students at their current university, schools are doing away with offering a Master's degree in Sociology, in favor of the "masters on the way to your PhD." That being said, I've noticed a lot while browsing some of the better schools, that quite a few of the current students or admits have a master's degree from a different university already. So this has me wondering whether, despite the fact that they say you don't need a Master's degree to apply, if there is some kind of unspoken rule or pattern that favors the students who already have their masters. Now I realize that obviously most of the time, these students are more qualified than students who just have their bachelor's degree. They have more years of research experience typically; they often have a clearer idea of what they would like to study; and they have a master's level thesis to send in as their writing sample. So I guess my question is, with the breakdown/deconstruction of the separate master's program, how are schools making sure that each candidate is looked at fairly, or are they not? Does anyone else think this has the potential to create problems for students without Master's degrees, as fewer and fewer respected and ranked universities are offering terminal MA degrees?

I haven't heard anything from NCSU, Washington, or Harvard yet so we are in the same boat. And I don't think all programs interview; generally I think programs only tend to do that when they have to.

Same here! I hate being judged by who I am on "paper", when my interests, background, achievement, and potential don't always translate to the level that they should. That being said, congrats to everyone who did get in today! Tomorrow's a new day, and hopefully we'll both see our first acceptances soon!

Claiming a Berkeley rejection as well. It's my first rejection and the first school I've heard back from.

Hi, So I stumbled on this website while desperately searching forums for answers to my dilemma, but a little bit about me first: I am a recent graduate with a double major in English (rhetoric) and Sociology with a 3.85 GPA. My interests have always been in the intersection between language and sociology, not so much sociolinguistics, but rather a sort of macrosociological approach to language and linguistics. This past semester before I graduated, I got to work one on one with a professor where we studied and read books on this topic, and it really just breathed life into me. I've never felt more passionate about a subject in my whole life, and it immediately had me wanting to go to grad school. However, in my research for applying to schools, I have come up rather unsuccessful as the subject matter feels rather uncharted in comparison to other subjects in sociology. If anyone has any school suggestions or professor suggestions, I would be more than happy to have them! Thanks!