blogstarphd

Congratulations!

Does U. Penn accept applicants in waves?

Y'all are doing too much right now...

Still, does anyone want to give their insight into a program or their opinions on a program? This will surely still be invaluable to readers on the forum.

Congratulations!

@SocialGroovements, What do you think of job opportunities for the 25-40 schools like Irvine, USC, Emory, etc. versus a top 20 school? What's the treshhold that says the ranking may be too low?

Thanks for the quick response. Does Penn accept in waves?

I agree with this. I have a conflict with UCSB and Ohio State. One of the schools decided to fly me out after the visitation weekend. Just ask if that's possible. If they want you, they are going to do everything in their power to get you.

Is Penn done with acceptances? When should we hear from Northwestern?

Chicago?

I respect that. I just heard this from a graduate student today (that doesn't go to Chicago). I'm not saying from my experience but from word of mouth. I should have said that in the post.

I've heard that U. Chicago's department accepts more students than they plan to grant PhDs. They weed out about half of the students through intense comprehensive exams.

I searched through the forums and found a topic titled "department dirt" that detailed the culture of different school's sociology department. I think it would be helpful for us to describe the departments (funding, competitive versus collaborative, supportive faculty, etc.) for future posters and for ourselves, in case we aren't able to attend a visitation weekend.

What are tiers by ranking? Top 5/10/20/25/30? Or is it Top 10/20/30?

A friend of mine was accepted to Michigan yesterday.

Has Madison sent out acceptances? I didn't apply. I'm asking for a friend.

Impressive.

Congratulations!

You're on a roll.

I meant job placement. That was this phone's autocorrect.

We can all agree that rankings matter for Jon placement in the academy. I have a few questions, though. How low is too low, though? What are the advantages to going to a top 5 program versus top 15? What about top 20 versus top 30? What are the disadvantages? Do subfield rankings even matter when it comes to overall rankings?

Congratulations Darth.

I think that a few of these factors are rather relative. An undergraduate institution's prestige matters to some extent but not much. If you check the graduate profiles at Ohio State, you'll see there are very few people who went to top 20 undergraduate institutions. Also, it would seem that your GRE score is only used to weed through applications. I have a feeling that these schools now add up your scores and cut from there ("We don't want anything less than 310.") rather than recalculating using the old scale. You can only select so many applicants. If you don't get in, which we aren't hoping, it would be a number of other reasons that would keep you from being admitted. It could possibly be a GRE score. It could also be another reason that isn't quite quantifiable. I know I'm saying this from the other side of the fence, but the most difficult part of this process isn't waiting. The most difficult part is selecting. It's a great feeling to be wanted, but just the thought of selecting a school frightens me. That's not to say that I'm unappreciative of my position, but this is me forewarning you that the toughest part has yet to come.

Just be a little more patient, friend. I'm sure that this is going to work out for you.

So, here is a little bit more advice that I received from a faculty member about interviews. 1. The best way to get rejected is to be pretentious. This is the surest way to get rejected. Be graceful and respectful when you talk about the department. You should also answer interview questions in a way that shows you have some professionalization and the ability to collaborate with people in your cohort and the faculty in the department. This impresses them. 2. This particular school already has a short-list. You might be on it. You might not be on it. There's no way to tell unless you have someone from the inside to tell you if you're on it. These are the applicants receiving interviews that they're most interested in. So, essentially, these departments know who they're going to pick. If you're impressive on the short-list, you're in. If you're not on the short-list but are, nonetheless, impressive, then your chances of getting in increase. Does this make sense? If not, the rule of thumb is to just impress them. 3. This is the final and most important thing. These schools are going to show you a lot of interest at the interview. You should show them a comparable amount of interest in return. They're doing this because they want you to feel welcomed. When they accept you, you're more inclined to go because you'll feel like they want you. If you're rejected, on the other hand, I hope you enjoyed the free trip and warm conversations with faculty and graduate students.