Am I competitive for top 10 schools?

[blupeople]

Hi,

A brief overview of my application:

GRE: V164, Q159. GPA: 3.9 (highest distinction). Research: I conducted an independent summer research study as a fellow of an undergrad research program. I'm hoping to publish my results by the time applications roll around. I also have experience working as an assistant one of my professors projects. Additional stuff: I'm graduating in three years with an Interdisciplinary Studies major and a German minor. I've taken two grad-level courses and received an A and an A+. My letters of rec should be very good. I've taken grad seminars with two of the professors, both of which I've also conducted research for and have known for multiple years. The third recommendation is coming from a very famous professor who I'm taking an undergrad seminar with right now.

Am a competitive for the sociology programs at Harvard, Berkeley, UChicago, Colombia, etc.?

Thanks!!

 

[SocJake]

Hi Blupeople,

 

I hope you'll understand that this response comes from a lot of personal experience in and around graduate programs and the application process, both from the outside (applying to and receiving responses from programs) and the inside (seeing others apply to and receive responses from the program I currently belong to). It isn't meant necessarily to be discouraging but rather to help you get into a program because it sounds like you're really committed to the field of study given the advanced work you've done.

 

The easiest answer to your question is "yes, but..." Your scores are really fantastic, though could be better. Your GPA, transcript, rec letters, and the graduate classes you've already done will all help a lot. What you have to understand though is that at best, the schools you're currently interested in applying to will have maybe ten spots, and this has very little to do with the fact that they're "top ten" schools, but rather is a reflection of the state of advanced degree programs in the US today. My program (not a top-ten school, but a historically significant sociology department with fantastic faculty and an amazing emphasis on teaching) brought in four in my cohort and this year will be bringing in two students. Year-to-year, funding fluctuations will impact the number of available spots in graduate programs, and there's nothing a department can do about that. In my first round of applications (I applied twice over two years), I applied only to top-20 schools, and was accepted to Columbia after they downgraded my application from PhD to Masters, which would have meant nearly $100K of student debt for a degree I didn't ask for. My second round of applications, I got into four schools and actually felt like I was being fought over.

 

I don't think anyone on this forum will disagree with me when I say it's much, MUCH more important to find a program you feel a good fit with than a school that's highly ranked. The ranking system, while generally reflective of overall quality of programs, is HEAVILY weighted in favor of large research universities churning out professional sociologists whose careers will consist of a publication mill. There's nothing wrong with that path, of course, but if you have any specific interests or any specific dreams about your future career or research, try to find a school that fits with that rather than worrying about rank specifically. When you've developed a list of schools across multiple ranking tiers within that interest, apply to all of them and you'll be happy with where you end up.

 

If you have any questions feel free to let me know.

[MaxWeberHasAPosse]

yes, you're competitive. Nobody even looked at my GRE scores at the departments where I was accepted. Your scores are super high. Write an awesome SOP and you'll be fine. And, rank matters (when it comes to getting a job). Don't let anybody convince of something different. Look, as sociologists we study how important status and prestige are. There's no reason to think that those things don't make a difference in a soc phd program.