mormlib

Accepted the offer at Northwestern! So excited!

It's nice to have that off of my mind. 

For those on waitlists, that frees up a spot at: Ohio State, Indiana U, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Penn State.
 
Congrats to all those accepting offers and good luck for those still waiting or deciding!

Accepted the offer at Northwestern! So excited!

It's nice to have that off of my mind. 

For those on waitlists, that frees up a spot at: Ohio State, Indiana U, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Penn State.
 
Congrats to all those accepting offers and good luck for those still waiting or deciding!

Accepted the offer at Northwestern! So excited!

It's nice to have that off of my mind. 

For those on waitlists, that frees up a spot at: Ohio State, Indiana U, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Penn State.
 
Congrats to all those accepting offers and good luck for those still waiting or deciding!

Accepted the offer at Northwestern! So excited!

It's nice to have that off of my mind. 

For those on waitlists, that frees up a spot at: Ohio State, Indiana U, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Penn State.
 
Congrats to all those accepting offers and good luck for those still waiting or deciding!

Talking to one of my colleges, they asked me to let them know of other offers so that they could make sure they did all they could to get me there. I hear that it is harder to negotiate at the top colleges (my professors all have negative attitudes towards Princeton's and Wisconsin's attitude toward funding and caring about students), but if colleges want you, it's a good idea to improve your situation.

I just checked my Penn State application and it still doesn't say whether or not I'm accepted, so they are still waiting to publish results.

I'm not aware that Penn State has contacted anyone else yet (for rejection or acceptance). I think they are still making decisions.

I feel that, rather than judging schools based on various ranking systems, the best way to judge a school's worth is to talk to a faculty member who is familiar with the areas of expertise that the school offers. They will know how the department is doing in regards to other programs that have that specialty.
 
For example, Yale is ranked between 15-20 on some of those composite rankings, but in terms of sociology of culture it is considered one of the best by most of the faculty I've spoken with. The same for UCSD and the sociology of knowledge/science. Overall, it doesn't rank much better than the 20s, but it is turning out some of the best research. Speak to faculty members in the area you are interested in and they can give you better information.
 
(This doesn't mean you should ignore the rankings. Obviously they mean "something", but don't be too rigid.)

That's the new slogan for this site.

Hey...I am TOTALLY there with you. I almost applied at age 23, but I decided to start working in academia in other ways instead. I am now 30 and just applied to *11* programs that I thought were a great fit, too. I have worked very hard to get to where I am, like you have, I am sure.
 
And you know what? It's going to happen for us. It is WAY too early to throw in the towel. Most of your programs haven't even notified yet. Honestly, we could both get an acceptance any time between now and April.
 
If something completely nuts happens and we are both sitting here on May 1st saying "now what...?" We will have 7 months to get a leg up on next year. Hang in there! And take a break from this site for a few days.
 
Sometimes you have to stop checking your email, stop looking for the phone to ring, and ban yourself from checking your application status. It only stresses you out more.

I received a waitlist on UCLA as well. I found the email in my junk box saying the same thing. I was already accepted to both OSU and UNC, but UCLA was a better fit for my research interests so I might still go to their visiting days. 
My background: BA in soc, 2 years as a TA, 1 year as an RA and 1.5 years conducting my own research. 3 conferences, 2 papers to be submitted this year, 3.9 GPA, 161 verbal, 163 quant, 5.5 writing.
 
Good luck everyone and check your Junk Mail!

This was asked in 2010. Just saying.