Learn619

I believe that Irvine will be making a big push upwards. There is definitely a positive vibe in the sociology world that good things are happening there. But, what do I know?!

So... Updates: Someone got an acceptance from CUNY! And it looks like UC-Davis is still making phone calls for admits, so for those of you who applied to Davis, it looks like there is hope!

According to last year’s posted results for Stanford, generally speaking, they rolled out acceptances throughout a five day period- between Feb 4(Sat.)-Feb 8(Wed.) So there is a chance all Stanford admits were not sent out yet. Be optimistic!

This link was great! Thanks for providing a great laugh in a very stressful time!

Indeed! This is something that a lot of GradCafe users here ponder... as we're sitting here, reading more and more messages and checking years'-past application decisions posted on here, gauging when we think we "should" be hearing back from our Universities... It's a noble idea to just ignore this website, and await your own results, but I suspect that, for most of us, the desire to lurk on these message boards will win out as Feb. 1 nears! Cheers!~

Wow, that is a really interesting story & career shift. Good for you. What exactly is the career trajectory you're looking for here? Do you want to be a "Diplomat", intelligence officer, policy analyst, etc? Also, given your lack of academic background in the Social Sciences (Pol. Sci, Int. Relations, Sociology, Economics) or even Humanities (History, Philosophy) you may want to try take some courses related to political/military history & affairs, international relations theory, policy studies, or any number of interesting disciplines. The field is incredibly broad, so there are numerous courses that can fit your intellectual interests for this area of study. These types of grad-programs do accept students without backgrounds in the aforementioned fields, but it certainly helps to have some recently taken, relevant classes prior to applying to these types of programs. Also, as an undergrad, did you happen to do well in the courses you presumably took in Politics/econ./etc.?

I am inclined to suggest Fletcher for you, if you want to pursue a career in academia. You will undoubtedly get a phenomenal opportunity to delve into a particular area of interest for your master’s thesis at Tufts, which can serve as a great 'writing sample' that PhD programs will require of you when applying. There's no doubt that you'd have opportunities to write substantive papers at any of the schools we're talking about, but a large-scale research paper completed at Tufts should be very helpful in developing your academic credentials.

Thanks for the info. Did they happen to mention, or did you get any indication as to how helpful their Sociology department or career services would be in helping you fill the void for that gap year? Perhaps trying to find a research position for you on campus, or something along those lines, otherwise the gap year proposes an awkward element of "what do I do/Where do I go for the next few months while I’m waiting to apply for PhD programs." From what I understand, similar 1 year programs (such as U Chicago's MAPSS) are pretty helpful in giving you relevant work to do in the gap year while you're waiting to apply, but who knows how truthful that actually is. That's just based off of what I've seen others on this board mention.

Have you contacted anyone at Brandeis-Sociology and asked what the "typical" MA student route is for this degree? I know sometimes in the 1 year social science degrees the departments encourage you to wait until the following year, prior to applying to PhD programs since your 'connections' with the faculty at the University will be in their nascent stages at the time you'd be applying to PhD's in your first (and only) year in the program. I would be very curious to know what Brandeis recommends here.

What would you be studying in your PhD? Political Science, Policy Studes, International Affairs, etc.? Also, what is the goal of the PhD? To go into Academia, a think tank, to move up ranks in a place of employment, etc.?

I would lean towards AU, particularly If location is at all an important factor for internships/employment. There are tons of people I've seen post on this forum who will tell you that "these agencies have people from all different schools and backgrounds", and I'm sure this is true, so either way your academic route seems solid. I think that overall, AU will simply give you a leg-up in the "getting your foot in the door" career route, and a major contributing factor there will be the fact that you have access to countless venues relevant to the US security-apparatus located there in DC.

Just for knowledge, what is your intended career trajectory, post -grad degree? Do you want to work for the US Gov't (security-related agencies?)

Is your American U concentration: US Foreign Policy? Also, will you be attending the 'regional' accepted-students conference for your respective program that AU is having in the upcoming week?

More decision emails are being sent out right now! Everybody check your inbox!

While I can't comment as to mentioning the FSO in the SoP (because I did not do it), I will agree with the premise that you've put forth with the different decisions from different programs/schools. Of the 3 (SAIS, Fletcher, SIPA) that you mentioned, Fletcher seems to lend itself best to the 'foreign service' type of aspiration/atmosphere. I'd say that SIPA is probably less so, and SAIS is somewhere inbetween Fletcher & SIPA on that spectrum. But then again.... what do I know?!