soc2013

I was fortunate enough to be admitted to many top 5/10 programs this cycle and you have a strong profile. Just bear in mind these programs tend to really emphasize fit in the admissions process, so be prepared to give specific as to why each program could be the home for your graduate work. Best of luck!

Thank you!! Mulling over and applying your advice really helped. I think I am also choosing the school I "should" go to. Best of luck to you in your graduate studies!

Hi all, I'm between 2 programs, and could really use some insight. Both school A and school B are ranked in the top 5 in my field, and I could live on the funding packages from either school. I went to school A for undergrad, but I didn't study the field I'll be pursuing for my PhD (Sociology). I didn't really like my experience there, but I've stayed in the area, and I've been there for 9 years. So, I'm ready to move, but I do like the area and the weather. School A outranks school B in all of my subfield areas of interest. School A also has methods training not offered by school B. Placements from school A seem to be in the exact positions I'm interested in. Meanwhile, school B has some fellowship and joint training opportunities that interest me. It would be a new city, new people, and a fresh start. But school B does not offer training in some of the methods that interest me. They do, however, have a lot of faculty I could see myself working with. I also found the current students to be more welcoming. School B was also my dream school as a child, so I have this romantic idea of going there. But by going there it seems like I will become a different type of Sociologist. It seems to me that career-wise I should probably go to school A, but part of me really wants to go to school B. Thoughts? Advice? Thanks!!

Sorry, I'm having issue with the inline quotes atm. For the person that asked, Stanford's visit days are April 4th and 5th. I have yet to see what Harvard's offer looks like, but Stanford's offer includes around 24k plus three funded summers (around 6k). There are three years of required TA or RA-ships. They also provide some extra start-up funds (2.5k prior to year 1, 2.5k at the end of year 1), as well as funds for conferences and computer purchases. I know for a fact that Stanford provides the same funding package to ALL of its admits. But NYU's offer is still better. I don't think funding should be the deciding factor, though.

I'm also probably declining Stanford.

Is there anyone else here that hasn't heard from Michigan yet? I applied for the Soc & Policy program.

As far as I knew, they provided travel funds to all people invited to attend the event, regardless of status. I never saw anyone being treated differently while I was there. My best guess would be the people who received a place off the wait list depended on the research interests of the people who declined their offer, but that's just my own speculation.

Also, for those of you waiting on NYU... I got into NYU last year. They took 8 people but invited a bunch of their waitlist to the admit event. I only knew because my offer letter said I was one of 8 admitted, but I met people at other admit events who said they were on the waitlist and going to be there, too. Not sure what NYU is doing this year, but I found out through a phone call last time around. In the end, I decided to hold off on going to grad school altogether to travel, so I'm putting myself through all this anxiety 2 years in a row. Good luck to everyone!

I'll claim the first one posted. I got a call and missed it, so I found out via voicemail.