socialcomm

I wouldn't worry about pigeon-holing yourself -- a lot of people change their research focus after they start programs. I'd just make sure you show how your research interests fit into the programs you're applying to.

I have two masters degrees in areas other than sociology and got into a sociology phd program. I had even less of a soc background than you as my undergraduate was also not in soc! I think you'll be fine -- when you're applying for soc programs make sure you can tie your interests together and articulate how a soc program can fit your needs. But is there a reason you're not applying to phd programs now?

I'm in the same position as you -- my maiden name is my second middle name -- and I just use both middle names. But it's really up to you!

This exactly.

Go you! Congrats!

I don't have any experience, but I wanted to say I wish you the best! Many healthy thoughts to you. I'd assume you'd be able to take medical leave and people would be sympathetic to what you might be going through.

Do you mean on TGC or in general? I think livejournal has a bunch of grad school oriented forums, but I haven't really looked into them.

My background was psychology/communications. Basically, I showed that my research interest falls into sociology, which is why I was making the change.

Good advice! Another thing to think about is that most people have multiple careers throughout their lives and often they're quite different from each other. So don't feel like if you choose something you're stuck with it forever!

I worked in marketing for a long time and I see the benefit of branding standards. As a grad student, you're representing your university. I would hope the ppt templates are professionally done by the school and not obnoxious (although that might not always be the case!).

First, I'm sorry you didn't get in anywhere this year! I'm glad you're not giving up though. Can you talk a little more about the three schools to which you applied? Why you selected them? Rank? Specialization? Applying to a greater variety of schools may help depending on where you applied this round. I don't have any recommendations for specific schools; hopefully others will! Do you live near any schools? You could try to see if you could do something like volunteer with a research group or something similar just to gain experience and make contacts.

The ones I'm most familiar with... journal of gender studies and I think there's one called signals.

I worked for 10 years in between my BA and going back for my PhD. I did a masters in the middle which my employer basically paid for. I was in marketing and then I transitioned into a position where I was doing marketing research to help build up my research experience. I think it made my application stronger so I'm glad I did it. What field are you going into? If you're going to work, maybe seek out opportunities that will help you gain experience in the field you ultimately want to end up in. Yes, I definitely saved up a lot. And I think it put me in a better financial situation than others in my cohort who are depending on stipends/RA/TA as their sole means of income.

Exactly this.

You might want to look into a program like Parallels that allows you to run windows based programs.

That's awesome!

It's really really hard, but I would wait too. Technically, they still have quite a while to tell people. It's not a fun situation to be in though!

Wow, me too! Very confused.

Same here, but replace political science with sociology.

Personally, I'd probably stick it out. Mostly because it seems like you still have support from faculty. Even if no one is directly involved in your area, from what I've heard, just having the support of the faculty in the department can be huge. Can you make the program more satisfying for you? Are there other local schools that have courses or resources that are in your area of interest? Or even professors at other schools who can be part of your advising/dissertation committee? Or perhaps you can pursue these options while you apply again next year if you really think you'd rather be elsewhere.

It sounds like you're being very level headed about the amount of work you're doing. If no one is complaining and you're keeping your sanity and your outside life, it sounds like a win-win situation. And as others have said, you've shown (yourself and others) you can put in the hours if it's needed. I'd stick with what you're doing!

I went from psychology (BA and MS) to a sociology PhD program. I had previously taken one intro to sociology class but I took a lot of cultural psych and communication classes that encompassed aspects of many disciplines (comm/psych/soc). My MS is in I/O psych -- it was a very very applied/practical program so my biggest adjustment has been transitioning to a program that is very theory focused (not that the other program didn't include theory, but the soc program I'm in is very theory intensive). One thing I've found -- there's social psychology in both psychology and sociology. I'm not a social psych person but from what I've heard the two sides don't get along too well. I'm not sure if that's just what people in my department have experienced or if it's actually true more generally, but something to think about. You've gotten a lot of good advice. As they've mentioned, I'd read journals for sure. If you have a general idea of the topics you might want to study, seek out professors in psych and soc and talk to them about how you'd go about studying those topics from the perspective of psych or soc. Also, many grad students have online profiles on schools' websites -- you could try reaching out to students working in areas you think look interesting as well.

I think it's still pretty early in the process. You say you definitely wouldn't go to any of the other schools -- but if you got in would you go check out the campus? I'd wait a bit longer and see what transpires... once you've made your final choice then let the others know if you haven't heard from them. However, if you really really know you'd never go to those schools, let them know now, for the reasons you've already listed.

Congrats!! Absolutely focus on your acceptances!!

Another one: http://angieandriot.com/