captiv8ed

I just got word that my presentation has been accepted for a regional conference. I am not sure if they turn any undergrads who apply down, so I am not sure if it makes me special or not I presented last year too, and it was a lot of fun. Yay for stuff to put on the CV! I did super atrociously bad on my GRE quant, and I am currently slogging through 8 applications, so any little ray of sunshine is a happy thing right now!

The application process is horrid. And each app is a bit different and there are so many parts on so many applications. I am kicking myself for not being more on the ball this summer, as I wanted to be. I have a friend who is doing her dissertation on medical anthropology at Michigan, but that is as close to the area as I get! Sorry!

I am getting ready to write my emails and I found a few very helpful links. Different discipline, but it looks like helpful advice: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/advice/prospective.html And here are a couple from happy schools blog: http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/email-template-contact-professors/ http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/how-not-to-write-an-email/

But the OP would not be bringing into academia in his/her 40s or older. The OP is 28, which is only five years out of undergrad.

I took my GRE in Sept and got a pathetically low score in Quant. I am taking it again mid November and the first deadlines are Dec 15, so I guess I would say, yes it is worth taking over. Honestly, if I were in your shoes I would take an extra year, study like mad for the GRE and retake maybe next summer. In the meantime, get those grades up and does as much research as you can. See if you could get a winter break and summer gig as well as spring. Good luck!

Princeton is at the top of my list. I am really interested in the work Robert Wuthnow and Paul DiMaggio do, even if their methods are quantitative.

I have been poking around this forum, and you might be able to find some links on it http://www.urch.com/forums/ Lots of other useful info as well

That is good to hear. I will look at it again. I am just so afraid of what is going to happen to the schools. I have three kids who will be in upper elementary-middle school. Also, my husband is an undergrad and will need funding. And my husband will need a job. We have a pretty low-income, so it doesn't take much to fling us to sea in a bad way.

Oh! I just reread and found my shortest one is actually 1 page, not 500 words!! Decreased font size, here I come! Actually I am pretty close to wrap up with standard Word 07 and haven't reached the bottom of the page yet, so I think I might be safe.

Very difficult. Wait, scratch very because that uses a precious word. Onerous I am up to 372 and haven't even gotten through my background. Anyone else having trouble smooshing qualifications and ambitions into 500 words?

Thanks for your reply. I had planned to apply to Berkeley, but California's current fiscal situation is too scary for me. Especially since their biggest cuts are to lower and higher education. I not only have myself to think of, I have three kids who will be in school and my husband will have one year of undergrad left. It was scary enough to think about surviving in CA just with those obstacles and the crazy cost of housing. But now as more of the safety net is dissolving, I don't want to risk it.

Thanks I dropped French because it felt like too much. I bought a whiteboard tonight to get all important dates and requirements out in front. I was planning to move the GRE back to Nov 15, so that I could really have enough time to study and learn and feel ready. But I just realized that 3 of the schools I plan to apply to have Dec 15th deadlines, so I think the 15th might be cutting it too close. But it would be disastrous if I didn't give myself enough prep time and failed again,

What schools are best for students who prefer qualitative methods? I am mainly interested in religion, race/class/gender, and stratification, but I would love to study these things qualitatively. Thanks!

Hi I am in your position as well. It is horrible. I studied a pretty decent amount all summer, but was still not getting a lot of the math sections. I was pre-testing in the 600s though. I went in and got a 600 on the V (I thought I would get at least a 650) and a 410 on quant! Horrible truly horrible. I am so afraid that I won't be able to get the score up and my chances of getting my doctorate will be dashed. I am working through the GRE Math Bible now and plan to retake at the end of November. I just feel like crap.

I am totally overwhelmed. I just took and failed the GRE, so I will have to retake it at the end of Oct I am student teaching for a very intense teacher and working on a pretty hefty briefing paper, and I am taking French. I am married with three boys. My husband is also going to school fulltime and working part time. On top of that, still have to write a SOP, do apps for 7 schools, edit a writing sample, work on and turn in a presentation proposal for a conference (although I might not do that since I will be studying for the GRE all this month). Also, my hubby will have another year of school left, so he will also need to figure out what schools to should apply to and do that.

Do you receive a printout of your score? Or do you just see it and have to remember it until you can get to your locker and write it down?

I would think that your scores are right in range for top schools http://sociology.berkeley.edu/index.php?page=gradfaq

I got a free ScoreItNow with my fee waiver so I did it today. I would not waste money on it. It is totally computer graded. I got a grade in about 30 seconds. I got a 4.0 on my analysis, even though it was almost identical in length and content to their 5.0 sample. There is very little feedback, but it said I used a word too much. The word was skater and the argument was about....skaters!

Hey everyone! LDM, how did the conference go? Are you still feeling this is your track? D. Locks, not too late. The application round is just starting! I just posted the thread early. How funny that we are all interested in religion. What aspects of religion are you interested in? I want to study religion as a consumer driven market and also religion as a social networking tool. I did look into ND and Purdue as well as Duke. The economy in and around ND was too scary for me. I am married with kids, so I have to be really aware of the fit for the entire family. I don't remember what put Purdue into the no category but something did. Duke is just too intense an environment. I am pretty sure Princeton may be too intense as well, but their program is absolutely my favorite.

How do you communicate that? Do you write it in your SOP?

Hey! A fellow Greener. I am at Evergreen, doing a fifth year, and will be applying for PhD programs in Sociology. I don't have much to add, just commiseration. I know exactly what you mean about having no idea what your chances are. And wading through schools and figuring out where to apply is hard too, because there are no departments or faculty advisers to talk to.

I was going to apply to 10 but I got it down to 7. 10 just felt too overwhelming to keep track of and too expensive. I will be moving with my hubby and kids, and hubby is in school as well. So wherever I am applying to, I also have to think about lifestyle, schools and cost of living for my kids and my hubby will have to apply to schools as well.

Well, it is heading towards application time. Thought it might be good to have a "howdy" thread for those of us going through the app process together. I am a 38 year old undergrad. I am a non traditional student and go to a non traditional school, which makes this process a nail biter! I am married and my hubby will have a year of undergrad left when (if) we move. I also have three boys who will be in elem and middle school. I have been working on which schools to apply to, and I think I have it narrowed down to 7. My interests are sociology of religion, social networks in relation to stratification, cultural capital, and gender, mostly in relation to body image issues. I have a bit of an interest in immigration and labor issues as well. I am planning to apply to Princeton, Washington, Oregon, Iowa, UIC, Indiana, and Penn. I had a few CA schools on the list, but their budget issues are too scary for me. I am so happy to meet all of you! We are in this together.

Thanks for the advice. The anthro teacher is a sociology teacher as well. I will get in touch with her

Hi all. I am trying to get all my academic ducks in a row, to apply this fall. I am a bit stuck on the letter question. I have 2 recommenders who are well known in the field and will give me strong letters. I am trying to decide on the third. I did an internship at my state capitol this spring. I worked for 3 state reps. All 3 offered me letters of recommendation. Should I use one of them? Or will it be frowned upon since they are not academics? My other strong choice is my cultural anthropology teacher. She would write me a good letter. She is a community college teacher though, and I don't think she is known outside of her school. But she is the dean of social sciences for the community college, if that helps. Do either of the choices sound appealing? Thanks for the feedback!