SocJake

It's possible Brandeis could be a good fit for you. We don't really have any quantitative classes, and our graduate methods course is entirely focused on field methods. Further, if you're interested in law and polisci there are some cool new faculty members we've hired in the last few years who could be good resources for you.

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.

Headed to Brandeis in the fall. Finally got off their waitlist early last week and had to turn down a fellowship offer at another school, but this is a much better fit for me and the money is about the same. Anybody else going to be joining my in Waltham next year?

Feel free to pm me for info on this. Tuition is interesting.

Kansas admits have gone out, not sure if they're done

It is possible for schools to do this. Last year the University of Minnesota sent out a batch of rejections along with its first round of acceptances, and sent out more acceptances in waves as they got a feel for the number of students who would be accepting their offer, but did not notify students in that limbo area unless asked. Until you hit the deadline for notifying schools, no news is not bad news.

My undergraduate academic and thesis adviser got his PhD in sociology at Brandeis. Fairly related fields, and as far as I understand there's some instructional overlap between departments. I imagine if you're going into that line of study you're an especially critical scholar, and while I don't know much about Simmons I can tell you Brandeis sounds like a good fit for that.

Just heard back in the negative from Brown, people who applied there should check their status.

I got wait listed by them, but I was wondering if you could expand on this? I'm all about qual.

Me for one of these. They haven't sent them all out yet.

"Dear [applicant] Thank you for applying to Princeton University's Graduate School for the 2015-16 academic year. While I assure you that the materials you submitted were carefully reviewed by the faculty in the Department of Sociology, I regret to inform you that the department did not recommend your admission for the coming academic year. The number of admission offers available at Princeton for entering graduate students is extremely limited and we cannot offer admission to all applicants who are well-qualified. Indeed, many departments consistently have applicants who would be admitted without hesitation if additional resources were available. Our decisions take into account not only the applicants' merits, but also the suitability of the programs to the candidates' expressed interests. Our goal is to achieve a sound match between the strengths of our programs and the interests of the relatively small number of outstanding students that can be accommodated. I wish you success in your plans for graduate study and thank you for considering Princeton University. Sincerely, Sanjeev R. Kulkarni Dean of the Graduate School." Very congenial compared to many I received last year.

Congrats to everyone hearing good things! I received a call from SUNY Stony Brook today. They're sending out official acceptances shortly but I know I got in. Also got a rejection email from Princeton. To the person who got into Minnesota, any idea whether they've sent out all their responses? Last year they did a few waves of acceptances. And to the people asking about UWashington, I got an email saying acceptances wouldn't go out any earlier than Feb15, so I dunno why people are getting in.