theorynetworkculture

You don't need a 4.0 major GPA. You have an excellent track record. Just work on your personal statement and writing sample, and try as best as you can to articulate why you want a sociology PhD. PhD admissions can be decidedly arbitrary on some level, but that's out of your control. It's good that you're reading Posselt's book, that gives you more insight into the inside baseball. But don't obsess too much about it.

Most likely something went awry on the adminstrative side. I'd email to be sure, but I'd assume rejection.

I see no reason why you wouldn't do well. Good luck!

MA programs are one way: Chicago MAPSS, NYU's AQR program etc. You can also looks to work at various research institutes, like the pop. centers at many universities (NORC at Chicago for example). But "research experience" can also be a really nebulous turn of phrase: what kind of research are you looking to do? I don't think a budding ethnographer would be interested in working as ICPSR or NORC.

My experience is that public universities offer 15-20k/year generally. Private universities can be up to 10-15k higher. This is all location dependent, of course.

Great list! I love JLM's advice on grad school, there's more to check out on his website if people are interested. To add on: Sam Perry's (Chicago grad; University of Oklahoma AP) advice on the job market is pretty good: https://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/job-market-tough-love-from-sam-perry/ Org theory has many interesting discussions about grad school, how to succeed in grad school etc. Julie Posselt's book, Inside Graduate Admission, gives you a good insider's account of how admissions works: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674088696

Some brief concluding thoughts as I check out of this year's admission cycle. I found this site very useful throughout the application process. I trawled it when I was a younger undergrad interested in grad school, and it was a good relief valve during the application season. Not many of my friends and peers apply to graduate school, not least sociology, so it was great to have the forum. My experience is anecdotal of course, but I hope people glean something from it. I applied to 14 schools in this cycle, and I was accepted to 5. All of them were ranked in the top 20. While I wasn't admitted to some of my top choice programs (namely, Harvard and Berkeley), I do have great options available. I'm writing this in the wake of a few rejections, so there may be a strain of ambivalence to my words, but I know that in more sober moments I am very thankful and humbled to have the options I do. I have a reasonably strong application profile. Without identifying myself, I come from a top 10 liberal arts college. I'm currently a senior. My GPA is within the summa/magna cum lauda range. My GRE scores (verbal/quant/writing) are above the 90th percentile. I have worked as a research assistant, and have dabbled in an independent summer research. I applied only to top ranked programs that were strong in what I was interested in (culture/theory/networks). I thought I made a strong case for my admission in each case, but as you can see, I was far from uniformly successful. I'm passing on tips and advice that I have accumulated from all over. Make sure your file is as strong as it can reasonably be. Low test scores can entirely break through application (though high ones don't necessarily make it). Prestige and status of your undergraduate institution matters. There might be very little you can do to change and affect this, but it is wise to cognizant of its effects on your application, and to try to accommodate for this as best as you can. Network early and often with your letter writers. Make sure they know who you are, and how/why you're dedicated to a career in academia. Apply widely! You cannot apply to just a select few and expect to get in, unless you're a bona fide star (and perhaps, even if). I imagine my application profile does not look too dissimilar to that of the modal "good" applicant: in which case you might expect a similar result from mine. Start early! Start preparing your writing sample and personal statements by June, if you can. I started in September or so, and I wish I had started earlier.

Interesting insight. Are you currently a graduate student? Two professors whose works I admire deeply have reached out to me, and I have to admit I'm a little starstruck: "'so-and-so' actually wrote me!" was the running thought when I read their email. My current advisor told me not to be so easily seduced, because that's par for the course during this "courting season." Do others have similar experiences?

Princeton, unless NYU/Columbia can offer something that's very decisively better (in terms of fit/faculty, or location). NYU's McCracken fellowship lets you "stack" NSF funding, should you get it — something you might want to take note of.

I was accepted to Chicago, ultimately.

Rejected from Harvard (and also Stanford, yesterday). I'm lucky enough to have been accepted to a few great programs, but it still stings to know that my top two options (Harvard and Berkeley) turned me down. I'm still waiting to hear back from Princeton, but I'm not holding my breath.

Congratulations! I'm delighted for you.

I was just accepted to Northwestern as well! A first year fellowship was mentioned (TA/RA-ships to match the rest of the years) and one of NU's cluster fellowships. Visits are on 29/30 March. I second @Gvillegirl, they sent a lovely email. It came right after the Michigan denial, so it was a great pick-me-up!

Historically there's always been at least three to four folks reporting acceptances on the results page, even if they might not drop by the forums. There's no reason to think why it'd be so different this year. If Harvard has a cohort of 8-10, then ~15 people will received acceptances. My sense is that the main waves of acceptances have not rolled out, but that might be in the optimist in my speaking.

I have spent way too much time wondering when Harvard and Princeton are releasing their results. C'mon already >:

No funding was offered.

I know! They're long shots for anyone, really. I'm quite torn at the moment. I've been admitted to Chicago, NYU, and Duke. I believe I'd be happy at any of them, so it's a happy dilemma to have. I think I'll have a clearer picture after the visiting weekends.

Rejected from Columbia (but offered place in MA program). Still waiting on news from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Northwestern, and Stanford.

He was not someone I identified in my SOP, but his work is of tangential interest. I imagine he must have been on the admissions committee, but he wasn't the DGS.

The advice I hear is that rank holds priority over fit. Academia is too status-driven for us to think otherwise (Burris 2004, great article on the "academic caste system"). Fit can and should be taken into account within the same ranking bracket, i.e. it'd make sense to consider fit if you're picking among the top 15 schools, but it might be unwise for your career if you picked a top 30 school over the top 15 because of fit.

I can claim an NYU acceptance! Very excited. The portal still says "Under Review."

I can claim a Duke acceptance. I received an email to check the portal: was surprised to see that it was an acceptance rather than a denial. Duke guarantees five years of funding, but there's no information on visit weekends on the letter.

I recommend starting by reading Annual Review pieces on your subfields of interest. If you're interested in gender for example, read all the gender pieces going back the last ten years: and then come through the references when you're done.

Check your inbox for an email from Wisconsin-Madison in December. There's a different system for accessing results.

The impression I got from my interviewer is that 30-35 were shortlisted for interviews, and that offers to ~20-25 have been made. I don't know if there may be a latter wave of offers. Apologies if I'm being the bearer of bad news.