Mamba42 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 What are your interests and POI? I was looking at the UCR Political Economy and Global Social Change specialization, but my interests in that would be looking at neoliberalism and politics/economics. I briefly talked with Professor Chase Dunn, but I didn't really have extended conversation or anything. It's too bad about the UCR rejection, but it wasn't my top school and I am now "patiently" waiting for the other 7 schools I applied to for a decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 I was looking at the UCR Political Economy and Global Social Change specialization, but my interests in that would be looking at neoliberalism and politics/economics. I briefly talked with Professor Chase Dunn, but I didn't really have extended conversation or anything. It's too bad about the UCR rejection, but it wasn't my top school and I am now "patiently" waiting for the other 7 schools I applied to for a decision. Where else did you apply? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamba42 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Where else did you apply? I didn't shoot too high, but I applied to U of Washington, Washington State, Oregon, U of Utah, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Northeastern. Where did you apply? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 I didn't shoot too high, but I applied to U of Washington, Washington State, Oregon, U of Utah, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Northeastern. Where did you apply? Princeton, Univ. of Chicago, Penn, NYU, UT-Austin, Penn State, Yale, UCR, UCI, UCSD, Purdue, Notre Dame, UC Boulder, Univ. Washington Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamba42 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Princeton, Univ. of Chicago, Penn, NYU, UT-Austin, Penn State, Yale, UCR, UCI, UCSD, Purdue, Notre Dame, UC Boulder, Univ. Washington That's quite a bit more than me!! lol Good luck at all of them! Hope you receive the opposite email from UCR that I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newsociologist Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Just got accepted to UCI with a very competitive package; I live 10 minutes away from the campus and this has made the decision so much more difficult. I never thought I would be fortunate enough to be in the position of choosing between programs; I am really torn between a higher ranked program and UCI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) Just got accepted to UCI with a very competitive package; I live 10 minutes away from the campus and this has made the decision so much more difficult. I never thought I would be fortunate enough to be in the position of choosing between programs; I am really torn between a higher ranked program and UCI. What's the higher ranked program? If its a top 10 then take the top 10 one. Sociology is heavily based off of prestige when it comes to hitting the job market. If its a 20s ranked university then that's not any different than uci Also, congrats! Care to share any stats? There's a few of us here that also applied to uci. Edited February 9, 2012 by ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sciencegirl Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 @thisslum... it looks like under @newsociologist's stats that the school in question is most likely Indiana.. a #11.. tough call! It's not top 10, but is it "just top 20?" Hopefully there will soon be more and more acceptances for everyone and the thread will turn from being super crazy nervous to everyone being super crazy neurotic and not knowing which program to choose! Good problem to have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Looks like a few uci admits got posted on the results page. Guess I'm not in the first wave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 @thisslum... it looks like under @newsociologist's stats that the school in question is most likely Indiana.. a #11.. tough call! It's not top 10, but is it "just top 20?" Hopefully there will soon be more and more acceptances for everyone and the thread will turn from being super crazy nervous to everyone being super crazy neurotic and not knowing which program to choose! Good problem to have! Indiana is a top 10 school. UPENN, which is also ranked 11, is referred to as a top 10 by my professors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sciencegirl Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Congrats @LOL!!!!! The first one feels great doesn't it?!! Also, @ThisSlum.. do you want to start a "top 10" thread? I dare you to. I am curious to see if there is any sort of agreement on this forum what "top 5" "top 10" or even "top 20" might be... (like a part of me is surprised that some consider UNC to be "top 5" as opposed to just "top 10" or that UCLA might only be "top 10" but Michigan is "top 5" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 (edited) Congrats @LOL!!!!! The first one feels great doesn't it?!! Also, @ThisSlum.. do you want to start a "top 10" thread? I dare you to. I am curious to see if there is any sort of agreement on this forum what "top 5" "top 10" or even "top 20" might be... (like a part of me is surprised that some consider UNC to be "top 5" as opposed to just "top 10" or that UCLA might only be "top 10" but Michigan is "top 5" I'm just going off of the imaginary boundaries that lie between rankings. Boundaries that were discussed in my social networking class which spent weeks analyzing the trends in department prestige and hiring between the departments and also how fabio on orgtheory has broken it down before. You can kind of lump tiers together as top 10, top 20, top 50 and then the rest. The boundaries aren't something as rigid as the US news rankings suggest because places can move up and down a few slots every few years. And I'm not starting that thread because I'm not getting into any top 10 haha Edited February 9, 2012 by ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sciencegirl Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 @slum... no worries. you got in already to a place right? and yes.. I was more interested on how "top #" is quite a fluid and somewhat arbitrary distinction... and also the US news stuff is now many years old... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 @slum... no worries. you got in already to a place right? and yes.. I was more interested on how "top #" is quite a fluid and somewhat arbitrary distinction... and also the US news stuff is now many years old... No I made the shortlist for Notre Dame and am getting flown out there next week but I haven't got any full blown acceptance yet. I want that first unequivocal acceptance so badly just so I can let out the big sigh of relief that I have somewhere to go. And for newsociologist, when comparing Indiana and UCI, no matter how we break down the numbers, it's a tier 1 vs tier 2 type of comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sciencegirl Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 @slum... if humor points are worth anything, and if popularity on this board was a factor to consider, you'd be getting into a top 10 program no sweat... I feel it for you this week... the full acceptance is coming.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 haha thanks, I sure hope so. I find myself waking up earlier and earlier every day to reach for my phone to check my e-mail to see if any East Coast schools might have e-mailed me first thing in the morning. I'm going into hibernation for a few days after this whole decision season is over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RefurbedScientist Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I would agree that there are some arbitrary distinctions when we talk about, say, top-5, -10, -15, -20, -25, -30 programs, so on and so forth. This hypersensitivity to hierarchy probably reinforces it, too. On the other hand, look at the CVs of professors at different programs across tiers and you will see that these groupings are persistent (e.g. a "top 10" school will have faculty from all top 10 schools). That being said, I think these tiers are most relevant when it comes to job placement. In terms of quality of training, I would be hesitant to believe one gets much better training at a program ranked by USNWR in the top 10 compared to a program ranked in the top 25, considering the faculty of those programs probably all went to top 10 schools. I think that, aside from the occasional genius faculty (which I think are almost normally distributed in top departments), the substance and quality of pre-dissertation training probably does not vary greatly among, say, the top 30 programs. What does probably vary is access to networks, prestige, and maybe (BIG MAYBE) the academic ability of the other grad students with whom you will be collaborating and, in some cases, competing. Take UCI, for example. As a social movement student, I can't imagine getting a higher quality education than from David Meyer, David Snow, Ed Amenta, Francesca Polletta, etc., covering the breadth of methods and theories in the subfield. These are bona fide leaders in the field, so you would be learning from the best. But then could you get the job you want down the road? That's the question at hand. To me, that's unfortunate, but they've made our bed and now we've gotta sleep in it, or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newsociologist Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 No I made the shortlist for Notre Dame and am getting flown out there next week but I haven't got any full blown acceptance yet. I want that first unequivocal acceptance so badly just so I can let out the big sigh of relief that I have somewhere to go. And for newsociologist, when comparing Indiana and UCI, no matter how we break down the numbers, it's a tier 1 vs tier 2 type of comparison. Therein lies my dilemma! The only reason I am considering UCI is location and a couple of faculty with whom I have coauthored some works. ThisSlumGullionIsSoVapid: thanks :-) I am still in shock! GRE: Q 160, V 165, AWA 4.5; GPA 3.87 (Double major with Bio Sci). 2 forthcoming pubs (both coauthored), undergrad fellowship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohhello Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 @SocialGroovements I think you summarized the qualitative differences between top and lower-ranked programs well, at least according to one of my letter writers. According to one of my letter writers, if you want to make the rounds in the ivory tower, it's much easier for you to find a placement if you come from a highly ranked program. Also, the "quality" of your cohort may also influence the quality of your graduate studies, and top-ranked programs tend to have higher quality graduate students (not sure what my letter writer meant by "quality" - but I think it was used in the holistic/intellectually diverse sense). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobokennojokin Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 This thread has really taken an interesting turn! While we're here, maybe you guys can help me with a breakdown of two schools I am considering-- Indiana and Duke. My interests currently lie broadly in stratification, with interests in race, education, and urban. Again though, I see myself as open to flexibility. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 This thread has really taken an interesting turn! While we're here, maybe you guys can help me with a breakdown of two schools I am considering-- Indiana and Duke. My interests currently lie broadly in stratification, with interests in race, education, and urban. Again though, I see myself as open to flexibility. Any thoughts? In terms of prestige those are on par with each other. If I were you I would probably start looking into other dynamics such as recent job placements from the departments, how often the students publish, if they get to publish with the faculty, compare mentors, compare the current grad students there (because you will be working with them and a bad cohort could make for a not so great experience), and other more personalized things like this. Also, consider funding, location, the quality of mentorship (you'll want to e-mail some current students at the department to get the inside scoop). There's a lot that should probably go into choosing between two great programs to find which will be best for you. Either way though, you're in a good position as they are both great programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohhello Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Anyone else apply to UCSD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 Anyone else apply to UCSD? <-------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekingoflimbs Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 I applied to UCSD. Seems like a great program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobokennojokin Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 @thisslum: thanks for the post! I'll be sure to take note of those many good points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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