Beals

Submitted my first school applications yesterday! One was for Northwestern soc it's all real now!

Hi all, I just added everyone to the message thread. If i missed you, please comment here and I will add you!

they still do it the old fashioned way, I'm afraid. I think all federal gov agencies are in cahoots to get Canada Post some more business. It's the only reason I can think of that they haven't joined the 21st century and adopted online forms!

What did you decide to do!? I'm wondering too... I'm going for non-referred I think cause I don't want to be caught in an exaggeration? It's academics reading the aps so I think they'll understand the nature of it if i just list "conference papers"

I'm going to send you a private message!

I'd be happy to do so! I am doing sociology as well

Law and society! So I'm applying to some legal-studies programs and some sociology programs that do soc of law

Hi all, I'm applying to Northwestern and NYU for soc, and then to several other non-soc programs. Good luck!

Since your name is timhorton, I'm guessing you might be Canadian? If so, (even if you're not), have you considered applying to programs in Canada? Most MA programs give full funding (ex, U of T guarantees tuition + $15,000) , so you won't be in debt, and it's less of a time commitment. I can't make any comment on job prospects, but it might be something to look in to.

First of all, thank you for the compliment Second, I suppose I should have clarified, but I don't recommend relying on wikipedia for all of the information, I meant more of a starting point. If someone references X theorist I've never even heard of, I like to jaunt over to wikipedia to quickly find information such as when and where they're writing from, what school of thought they fall in to, see a list of most notable works or names of theories, and once I've oriented myself a little, I now know where to start with the real research. Personally, I find a crash course like this useful (and that way even if I don't have time for actual research, if I now know theorist X is a French post-structuralist, I can at least guess what they think and I'm a bit less lost next time someone brings them up in class). But yes, I certainly don't advocate reading wikipedia in an attempt to, say, understand Lacan's death drive- more to use wikipedia to find out that the death drive is something that has been written about and that I need to familiarize myself with, and then turn to academic sources to do the real work. You seem to have very well developed research strategies, Sigaba: do you recommend against even this? I'm a lowly MA who's been out of school for 2 years, my technique may be quite flawed!

I did my MA in an interdisciplinary program, so I can tell you this: most of the people in your program probably come from a discipline, and perhaps the classes you have now align more closely with their previous areas, but at some point you will cover material that is in your area, and they will be lost and you will feel so happy. The beautiful thing about interdisciplinary studies is that you can draw on your own background and it is pretty much always appropriate (ex: someone is applying Foucauldian theory to x? Great, but have they consider applying Y lens that you often use? Let's discuss how the two differ.) Also, you're probably less behind than you think you are: if you're familiar with queer theory I'm sure you've read Butler, and she's a Foucauldian! Or she was, anyhow, I haven't read her recent stuff. On a personal note, I don't have a head for names/details/rattling off theory- like you, I prefer to apply or 'do it naturally'. I could never say "Scholar X's seminal work titled A, and their more recent work titled B, suggests this verbatim..." because frankly I don't remember things that way. In my MA I also had fellow students rattling off theorists, names of texts, etc., and I felt so behind all semester, until I got back my final papers in classes and outperformed most of them: just because you can recite what another person said doesn't mean you can apply it, or do anything interesting on your own. Something to think about! But if you feel behind on theory, do a crash course: note down the names of scholars you hear a lot about, then wikipedia their theories, pick up a reader, etc. (Rabinow's reader is a really good interest in Foucault, if you're interested). I'd also recommend starting discussion if you're having trouble jumping in to the middle. Write down 3-4 discussion points about every article you read for class, and bring them up. For example, "this week I noticed that the author argues this, which contradicts the theory we read last week that argued blah. Here are my thoughts." If you prepare ahead of time you'll be less nervous, and perhaps someone else will bring up the same point and you can contribute what you've already written down.

I think you should take him up on it. You're right, it's not required that he offer something like this- but he did it anyway, and he wouldn't have offered if he hadn't been willing to follow through. I think there are a few reasons meeting with him would be a good idea: 1) It makes you look better. You have a chance to explain that it's not that you're bored/uninterested or whatever, and obviously you're invested! Look, you're willing to meet beyond class hours! You're a good student, really, and you can explain what your reasons for not participating are. Don't be a whiny baby, that's a good call, but explain to him what you've said to us. Those are perfectly reasonable factors. 2) You can get advice, reassurance, tips, or whatever from the prof which will probably help with your imposter syndrome (I'm assuming that's at play here, I may be wrong), and thus improve your grad school experience (or at least time in this class). Obviously he's concerned with what is happening in his class, and wants it to change. Speaking with the prof will let you know how to concretely go about doing that. 3) Forging good relationships with faculty is also important. Perhaps this is too calculating, but it never hurts to get one on one time with faculty early one, because even if he doesn't work in your area, he knows the profs who do much better than you do at this point, and you never know how that will come in handy. I really don't think you have anything to lose, and you have at least some to gain. But that's just my two cents. Good luck!

No problem!

I'm one of the people who sung the praises of budgetbytes above, but if you're not loving the complexity of it, maybe try this too: https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0c21d0480f50d3.googledrive.com/host/0Bxd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf It's actually written by a grad student, with a goal of eating on $4/day. You can get the cookbook free (see link above), or buy it on amazon if you have $ and want to support her quest to share how to eat "good and cheap."

Perhaps take the GRE, calculate your last 60 average, finalize your C.V. so you know what you really have to offer, and then take a look at the 'reach' schools and decide if it's worth applying? I wouldn't necessarily write them off until you know where you stand. As for other programs.... I know Northwestern, NYU, and Columbia all have specializations in culture, but I suppose those are all top ranked too. UCSB does culture. The theorists whose work inspires you- where are they located? Are you married to the idea of pursuing sociology? Have you looked at American Studies or Cultural Studies degrees? I realize I offered no tangible help, but I promise, I did the best I could!

Hi ZombieBirdhouse, Out of curiosity- I've never seen a dept that states having an MA will make you inadmissible. Or do you mean having work experience precludes you from admission? Could you clarify and/or mention some programs that stipulate this? Honestly, I'm a little nervous now! Also, wise advice about waiting till you're sure about which life course you want

I finished my MA in 2014 (Canadian university). I'm applying this fall with hopes of starting my PhD in 2017. Took the last 3 years to work locally, work abroad (Europe), and am now back home working and applying. I was literally never once tempted to not go back. Perhaps that's unusual? I don't know, but I think if you're the type of person who isn't totally sure about grad school then those doubts will pop up whether you're in a program or not. And of course, things can happen that preclude you from going back (I'm not sure what would've had to happen to stop me, but perhaps a serious financial misfortune?? Everyone's situation is different). MA - Work - PhD is very common. Again, I'm coming from Canada so perhaps my perspective is different (because MAs are always terminal), but many of my profs actually suggested I take a year before going from MA-PhD (my MA was only one year so I was having trouble narrowing down research interests) so that I could figure out what I wanted to do. I ended up taking 3 years off because I wanted to 1) pay off some debt, and 2) fulfill some of my nonsense romantic nomadic travelling desires (I did and it was great). I personally also value the perspective it has given me- the anticipation to get back in to a program is so great now I imagine I'll cherish it more than I would have had I gone straight from my MA. Tangibly, I've also gotten some interesting life experiences I think will help me do work as a social theorist. If you want to work in industry after your MA that will absolutely help you out when/if you go back for a PhD (translating your own practice into theory- why wouldn't that be an asset!?). This is really the best advice I think. No sense going aimlessly into a PhD program- you might end up squandering the opportunity accidentally. TL;DR: yes, MA-Work-PhD is common. There are some benefits to it as well.

Good to hear!!

Thanks seekingsun, I'll take a look!

jungThug, I too am particularly worried about this! I know someone (Canadian) who was accepted to UCSB for a STEM program, and was not offered any funding. From what I've heard, TakeruK's answer is most likely true- UC schools will fund internationals, but not many. While other schools might have enough funding for 7 internationals, the UCs only have enough funding for 2 (arbitrary numbers, but those are the ones I'm telling myself). I tried to find only private schools to apply to, but it looks like I'll be applying to Berkeley, UC Irvine, and UT Austin, despite my funding concerns.

Hi Team, Good luck on your aps! How is the process coming so far? SOPs written, GRE taken, letter writers contacted, etc? (FYI, I've completed none of <-- so kudos to you if you have). I'm mainly applying to sociology programs, but my interest is in legal studies which overlaps with a few crim programs. I will likely be applying to UC Irvine's Crim and Law program, & Berkeley's JSP program. AspiringScholarPhD & RoadtoPhD: there's so much rumour and guesswork surrounding the process I can't give any concrete input, but take a look at the sociology forum. An adcom from UNC answered a few questions over there, and I asked about both publications and GRE scores. He said GRE scores are somewhat important- they can sink you, and are can possibly counteract poor grades, but otherwise are not important enough to compensate for other weak areas. He also said publications aren't really important, unfortunately for you AspiringScholar because you've got a great record! NOTE: this is so sociology, so it might work a bit differently for crim programs, but I imagine the advice holds. AspiringScholarPhD: Can I ask why you're so set on applying to American schools? I'm Canadian too (BA & MA in Canada), so I'm just curious!

What are the details of the pension plan? Is it a matched contribution from your school, or just an automatic deduction from your paycheck? Are there any restrictions re: you accessing it from your home country/ and or hidden conversion fees (I doubt there are, but good to check)? If it's matched, and you don't desperately need the savings, there's no harm in staying in. If it's not matched, an option is to use the equivalent amount that would be invested and invest on your own. If you're only contributing for 5 years this might not make much of a difference, but it's generally considered a good idea to diversify assets- the american dollar is strong (though who knows how true that'll be once it comes time for you to access the plan) and it doesn't hurt to have capital in different markets in case one economy tanks. NOTE: there's no need to answer any of the questions I've asked you. Also, i'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, so it might be a good idea to talk to a financial planner and/or someone with a license to actually give advice.

Rising_Star, thank you so much for the advice! That strategy seems perfectly sound to me, especially because I'm a pretty independent researcher and worry about having a supervisor that wants my work to be an extension of their own. It's good to get a little more input regarding what 'fit' means

Thanks for replying! That's what I've done so far.... several people in Northwestern's, Vandy's, and NYU's sociology departments focus on legal studies in general, but not my topic specifically. I'm just concerned that's not good enough? Personally, I consider that a good enough fit (because who knows if I'll even stay with the topic of sexual consent law by the time I'm writing my dissertation) but I'm worried the adcomms would disagree. Perhaps I need to revise my original question and ask "when is fit 'good enough'"!??

Hi folks, My area is sexual regulation and sexual consent legislation. This is quite topical, but my problem is that most of the American scholars writing are based in law schools, where I cannot study unless I'd like to spend about a billion dollars on a JD (I don't, even if it magically placed me on Janet Halley's door). I'm looking at both interdisciplinary legal studies departments (UCI's Criminology & Law, and Berkeley's JSP), and programs with Sociology of Law (eg., Northwestern, NYU, and Vanderbilt). While those departments all have strong fits in terms of research methods/general subject area, I'm struggling to find POIs that already do work in my area. So I'm soliciting advice and opinions from all you wise people. 1) Can you recommend profs? I've read fairly broadly in the field but I am sure I've missed someone somewhere who's hosted in a Soc dept! 2) Can you recommend programs? Soc, policy, law, I'm very flexible, I just want fit! 3) I keep hearing 'fit' is everything. Is it enough that the program methods/general focus and POIs general interest match?